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Lancet rubbishes Pope's remarks
on fighting AIDS
WSN Bureau
 LONDON:
In yet another major public faux pas, Pope Benedict XVI has been
lambasted – this time by the prestigious UK-based medical journal
the Lancet for distorting science by claiming that the use of
contraception was not the answer to dealing with the HIV/AIDS
epidemic.
The Lancet in an
editorial demanded that the Pope retract his comments made last
week, saying anything less would be an immense disservice to the
public and health advocates fighting to contain the disease.
It added that
the Pope’s comments that condoms exacerbated the problem of HIV/AIDS
were inaccurate and could lead to devastating consequences. In the
address during his first visit to
Africa, the Pope
said that the “cruel epidemic” should be dealt via abstinence and
fidelity instead of using condoms.
The pope's
remarks, made to journalists on a flight to
Cameroon,
overshadowed his trip and provoked condemnation from health and aid
agencies, as well as protests from the UN and the governments of
Germany, France and Belgium.
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The Lancet said when any influential person, be it a religious
or political figure, makes a false scientific statement that
could be devastating to the health of millions of people, they
should retract or correct the public record. |
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The pope's
latest remarks have led some observers to question his judgment
after recent controversies surrounding the
Vatican over
relations with other religions and the decision to rescind the
excommunication of the English bishop Richard Williamson. The
decision was made days after it emerged he had made contentious
comments about the Holocaust, prompting accusations that he was a
Holocaust denier.
The journal’s
unusually strong response that the Pope, “publicly distorted
scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine on this issue” was
followed by the Pope's press officer, Fr Federico Lombardi resigning
for his failure to avoid the recent spate of public goof ups made by
the Pope.
But the latest
row over the Pope’s comments about AIDS, condoms and
Africa, which is
battling for the survival of an estimated 60 percent of
AIDS-infected population has generated global criticism. The AIDS
virus infects an estimated 33 million people globally, mostly in
sub-Saharan
Africa,
and has killed 25 million. There is no cure.
The Pope was
reported to have said that HIV/AIDS was “a tragedy that cannot be
overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the
distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem…The
traditional teaching of the Church has proven to be the only
failsafe way to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS."
“Whether the
Pope's error was due to ignorance or a deliberate attempt to
manipulate science to support Catholic ideology is unclear,” the
Lancet said.
1 April 2009
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