Pope: Condom Use 'Increases The Problem' Of HIV/AIDS. UPDATE: Vatican Defends Pope.

Greg Hengler | March 18, 2009 12:49 PM

The report from Africa is HERE. What the Pope said and meant will be contextualized [SEE BELOW] soon I'm sure but there was a comment made in this article that troubled me. Half way through the piece Rebecca Hodes--head of an African HIV/AIDS advocate group--remarks: "[A]rguments that condoms only encourage people to have more sex, saying, 'There's very little evidence of that. It's just hearsay.'" It is? I will paraphrase my former boss Dennis Prager: If you were leaving on a business trip and your wife said, "I don't condone your sleeping with other women but if you do I want you to be safe--so here are some condoms." Do you think this message would cause the man to consider sex (i.e., "encourage") with other women or not? Take this theory and apply it to condom handouts in our high schools.

UPDATE: Vatican defends the Pope HERE.