Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Monday, December 1, 2003
Philip Pullella
A top cardinal issued a five-page statement on World AIDS Day to hammer home the Vatican's position, which has drawn criticism from many quarters.
In a message addressed to Catholics, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, called for new ways of helping people change lifestyles.
"We have to present this as the main way for the effective prevention of infection and spread of HIV/AIDS, since the phenomenon of AIDS is a pathology of the spirit...," he said.
The Roman Catholic church opposes artificial contraception -- including condoms, which it says promote promiscuity.
The five-page message spoke of the "importance of respecting the religious and moral values of sexuality and matrimony, namely fidelity, chastity and abstinence."
Barragan, who is Mexican, invited "each and every one to step up prevention according to the doctrine of the Church, to practice the virtue of chastity in a pan-sexualist society."
He said AIDS campaigns should be based on "sure and authentic human and spiritual values, capable of establishing relevant education in favour of the culture of life and responsible love."
In a clear reference to condoms, he said information campaigns should not be "based on policies that foster immoral and hedonistic lifestyles and behaviour, favouring the spread of the evil."
Two months ago, another top Vatican cardinal raised controversy even within the Church by saying that the HIV/AIDS virus could be spread even if condoms were used.
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, said that relying on condoms to stop AIDS was like "betting on your own death."
The World Health Organisation (WHO), guardian watchdog of global wellbeing, rejected that view, saying condoms can reduce the risk of infection by 90 percent.
Lopez-Trujillo was also criticised by Brazil's health minister and AIDS activists.
In his message on Monday, Barragan also took a swipe at the media, suggesting that it promoted immoral lifestyles.
"If the main risk behaviours are pan-sexualism and drug addiction, then poverty, urbanisation, unemployment, mobility immigration and mass media are major contributing factors in the spread of the disease," he said.
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