“Sub-Saharan Africa is more heavily affected by HIV and AIDS than any other region of the world. An estimated 22 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2007 and approximately 1.9 million additional people were infected with HIV during that year. In just the past year, the AIDS epidemic in Africa has claimed the lives of an estimated 1.5 million people in this region. More than eleven million children have been orphaned by AIDS.” http://www.avert.org/aafrica.htm

The economy isn’t the only seemingly insurmountable problem that our nation and the world faces. AIDS has devastated many countries in Africa, and Washington DC is suffering an epidemic of HIV/AIDS worse than some African countries, with 3% over over-12-year-old persons infected.

When a religious or political leader visits Africa it’s incumbent upon him to address the AIDS epidemic and offer words of hope and promises of help.

On his first trip to Africa the pontiff exacerbated the AIDS crisis by declaring that condoms were not a solution to the AIDS epidemic – but were instead part of the problem.

There is no cure for AIDS and there is no fail-safe protection (other than abstinence) against the deadly disease. But physicians and scientists agree that condoms offer reliable protection from AIDS and other STD’s.

According to the Associated Press Pope Benedict said the following during his Africa trip:

“AIDS is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems”.

The Vatican bans the use of condoms and touts abstinence as the only way to fight AIDS. Abstaining from sex is not an option, sex is a moral and spiritual imperative for normal and healthy persons – regardless if they are single or married.

The Pope has witnessed firsthand the impossibility of maintaining a celibate lifestyle. Priests are forbidden to have normal heterosexual or homosexual relationships, and their pent-up sexuality manifests itself in horrific crimes against young boys.

The Pope has failed miserably as a religious and political leader, his words if taken to heart will result in thousands more Africans dying of AIDS. The Pope will remain true to his Neanderthal dogma, even if it results in the deaths of multitudes.

The peoples of Africa and the world should listen to physicians for advice on how to fight epidemics, they should certainly not pay heed to a religious leader with a penchant for wearing a dunce cap.

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