In a press briefing on a flight to Africa last week, Pope Benedict told journalists that “the scourge of AIDS cannot be overcome with the distribution of condoms, which on the contrary increase the problem.”

The statement contained a barefaced misrepresentation of the truth. The distribution of condoms does not ‘increase the problem’ and to suggest that it does is not just wrong but deeply disturbing. But, of course, lies of that kind are to be expected from any organization which is concerned only with the pursuit of its own ideological interests.
Over the following few days the Vatican spin merchants went into action. A new official version slithered into the public domain: the distribution of condoms, we were told, “risked” making the problem worse. But, of course, this attempt to cloud the issue is nothing more than sophistry. The Pope had simply put the logical implications of Roman Catholic teaching into words.
I probably need to declare an interest. I am for sex. I am for fucking, sucking, licking, kissing, loving, banging, humping, jumping, riding, screwing, getting it on with, and any and all of the other variations on that wonderful theme suggested by the venerable middle English expression ‘to fornicate’. I am fiercely in favour of oral sex: women on men, men on women – it is, as they say, all good.
This is not to say that I am in favour of ‘indiscriminate’ sex, in that this is a bit of a misnomer: the interest in sex usually arises in a specific way, which is of its nature ‘discriminating’. You’re attracted to one person rather than another. You like the sound of his or her voice. The conversation is enjoyable. She’s good-humoured. Funny. Sexy. There’s a spark. Nothing might ever come of it. Then again it might. Therein lies the mystery: the unique thing in that other person that draws you to her (or him) and her to you and brings you together.
I am, of course, a devoted fan of music, books, movies, art and think fine food is a thing greatly to be desired. I love a good wine and I am a demon for work, work and more work. I enjoy walking, running and playing ball. From all of these things, it goes without saying but I will say it anyway, great satisfaction can be and frequently is derived. But the giving and receiving of sexual pleasure in its many and varied forms is still without doubt – in my humble view – the greatest and most wonderful of all forms of human activity.
Where full-on joyous, unbridled sex is concerned, I am, incidentally, in favour, inside marriage or out. I am for it without stupid and irrelevant constraints too, as long as the love action is happening between consenting adults. And I am for it with responsibility at all times and with condoms where necessary or appropriate.
For its part, the Catholic Church and its ideologues attempt to equate that kind of positive attitude to sex, and a belief that it is perfectly OK to enjoy sexual relations with as many people as you see fit, with ‘promiscuity’ and ‘irresponsibility’. They also try to suggest that love is always absent from one-night stands. These are merely the ignorant prejudices of people who know little or nothing about sex or of love in its erotic sense.
Love and responsibility can be as present or as absent in monogamous relationships between husband and wife as they can be in any and every other sort of coupling. It is all down to the individuals, their attitudes to themselves, to their fellow human beings, to their potential sexual partners, to the ones that do engage with them, and to how they feel about the energies that flow and that are shared in any given sexual encounter. But maybe that’s a different discussion…
What we can say here is that the Vatican is specifically and definitively against sex outside marriage. It is also specifically and definitively against contraception, even within marriage. Any notion, therefore, that, somehow, it might not be against the use of condoms in Africa as a matter of principle is frankly ludicrous.
But let me go further and say this: opposing the use of condoms on the grounds of religious dogma is more important to the Catholic Church than saving lives. Preventing sin is more important than reducing the number of afflicted.
Now here’s a few grim facts: almost three quarters of all deaths as a result of AIDS occur in Africa. Almost 25 million people are HIV positive. Over 12 million children on the continent have lost one or both of their parents to the syndrome. It is arguably the single biggest health crisis in the world right now.
No one approaching the issue strictly from a scientific or a public health perspective disagrees with the related propositions that (a) the wider availability and usage of condoms has the potential to significantly reduce the incidence of AIDS; and (b) that a major shift in culture will be required to encourage the use of condoms – and that this should be seen as a central part of the solution to the AIDS crisis in Africa.
Neither, incidentally, would anyone who is sincere attempt to claim that abstinence or monogamy might not have a part to play. It’s obvious: if you don’t have sex and you don’t use drugs intravenously or otherwise use a contaminated needle, you won’t contract HIV. By all means let people know, if they haven’t worked it out for themselves. But is that a trade off that many people will want to or be willing to make? And which is more likely to gain immediate acceptance: abstinence or the use of condoms?
Knowing all of this, what Pope Benedict had to say amounts to an act of criminal sabotage. He simply does not care about reducing the number of AIDS cases. Or he doesn’t care sufficiently to put the health of the people before his own and his church’s narrow vested interests. What he does care deeply about is promoting the Catholic Church’s ideological opposition to any sex that occurs between consenting adults outside marriage and to the use of condoms. And he is prepared to put the lives of an inestimable number of Africans at risk in order to promote that.
If you are looking for irresponsibility, look
no further.