Condoms a blessing
I'm a Catholic and the founder of Australia's smallest AIDS-care organisation which has cared for people living with HIV/AIDS for almost 25 years and has had the cold shoulder from the church for supporting the use of condoms. I very much welcome the news that Pope Benedict has now accepted and publicly recognised that condoms do indeed reduce the risk of HIV infection.
Citing the example of a prostitute, the Pope reportedly declared that condom use may be justified in individual cases as ''a first step in the direction of a moralisation, a first assumption of responsibility . a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality''.
We would urge the Pope to very quickly look to the plight of married people whose spouse is HIV infected. This would have been a much better example, with a much greater urgency.
Condoms are not the only weapon in the armoury against the AIDS pandemic, but their life-saving role is undeniable.
Brian Haill President of the Australian AIDS Fund Inc Frankston (Vic)
PO Box 1347,
Frankston,
Victoria,3199
Australia
WEBSITE www.aids.net.au