'Condom is a matter of life and death'

Blogs are divided over Pope Benedict XVI's recent controverisal statement that condomns alone can't fight HIV/AIDS.

According to blogger Sudaniya Pope's opposition to condoms is "completely unfounded".u00a0

"In some AIDS-ravaged African countries, abstinence is not the only solution to combating AIDs. It worked in Uganda, but the shoe doesn't fit all situations here. It's not working in other countries."

"Even if using condoms is against Catholicism, if it's a matter of life and death, God is forgiving. He chose the wrong continent to make such a statement, doesn't he know how religious many Africans are? They are going to respect his words," adds the blogger.

"I support Ratzingerbag's freedom of speech. For example, I do not want him jailed for a crime against humanity for urging that condoms not be used in Africa to combat the AIDS crisis. Still, I can damn sure see the argument, given the enormous loss of life that may follow if the Pope's idiotic advice is actually taken seriously ," says blogger Metamagician.

Bloggeru00a0Most Sincerely Folks is scathing in his remarks on Pope: "The Pope is the absolute monarch of an earthly corporation with a long and distinguished history of involvement in torture, castration, paedophilia, subjugation of women, alliance with fascist powers, slave labour etcetera. The problem with the Pope is that he exists, not that he expresses the wrong opinions or was in the Hitler Youth or is a bit too old or too conservative or too out of touch or too German."

"The Holy See is struggling to contain international anger over the Pope's claim on his first official visit to Africa that Aids "cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems", says blogger Chuck.u00a0

"The Pope's remarks about condoms, and a recent furor over his lifting of the 20-year excommunication of a British bishop who has questioned the Holocaust, has left him looking isolated and out of touch, prompting calls for a radical shake-up of the way the Holy See delivers its message," says this blogger.

Pro-Pop

Here blogger Happy Catholicu00a0is supporting the Pope: "Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, has said that the evidence confirms that the Pope is correct in his assessment that condom distribution exacerbates the problem of AIDS," says the blog.

Here's one more supporter for the Popse. Blogger Patricku00a0says "even honest AIDS researchers (and health care administrators) say the pope was right. Moreover, the pope is not alone, not least because "This opinion is supported by local African AIDS activists who regularly complain that AIDS sufferers in their countries are being used in a massive international campaign both to reduce African populations and undermine traditional African family values."

'Sex is divine'

Blogger Something Else Catholicu00a0says that Pope Benedict reaffirmed the long-held Catholic understanding of sex as a holistic experience.

"It is not simply an animalistic search for pleasure any more than it is simply the vehicle of procreation. It is not something casual or disposable, but a sacred union between two persons who are able to commune with one another in a unique way. Scripture tells us that when a married couple comes together they become one flesh. This is a privilege that man has over all the other animals. It is an insult to human dignity to treat sex as animals do," says the blogger.

He feels that if "our brothers and sisters in Africa are suffering" it is not enough to "toss them a condom and wish them luck."

"The loving thing to do is to share in their suffering, empathizing with them, and to help guide them to a better, healthier way of life," concludes the blogger.