Pope Benedict XVI

This week, Pope Benedict has been visiting Africa. No surprise when on the plane down to Cameroon, the pope fielded a few questions from the working press traveling with him. According to the Vatican News Service, here's what he had to say about condoms and HIV/AIDS:

Answering a question on the Catholic Church's approach to HIV/AIDS, considered by some as unrealistic and ineffective, the Pope said: "It is my belief believe that the most effective presence on the front in the battle against HIV/AIDS is in fact the Catholic Church and her institutions. ... The problem of HIV/AIDS cannot be overcome with mere slogans. If the soul is lacking, if Africans do not help one another, the scourge cannot be resolved by distributing condoms; quite the contrary, we risk worsening the problem. The solution can only come through a twofold commitment: firstly, the humanisation of sexuality, in other words a spiritual and human renewal bringing a new way of behaving towards one another; ...

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