Pope Francis on Condoms to Prevent HIV: It’s Complicated

The viral image of Pope Francis was taken during a blessing in Africa on Monday. I prayed about it and felt that this is where I belong to. It is not religious, God is lacking, it is idolatrous. “Together, we say no to hatred, to vengeance and violence, especially that committed in the name of a religion or God”. Professional press needs to say it all but without succumbing to the most common sins: misinformation, in other words only telling half of the story and leaving the other half out; slander, when the unprofessional press dishonors people; defamation, which involves ruining a person’s reputation. Some of the priests even received death threats for helping Muslims but continued to protect them, taking in the elderly and physically disabled who in many cases were left behind as families fled the violence.

“This trip, in many ways, has captured all of the core themes of Francis’ papacy in miniature, from war and peace to interreligious dialogue to the environment to his passion for the poor”, said CNN senior Vatican analyst John Allen. He said he knew that a small percentage of people – “maybe 17 percent” – of the world’s population controls the vast majority of the world’s wealth – “and I think, ‘How can these people not be aware?’ It’s such suffering”.

The Pope grudgingly admitted that condoms are “one of the methods” which could prevent the spread of the HIV virus that causes AIDS, but was not pleased by the topic being raised.

Pope Francis ended his six-day trip to Africa by delivering a poignant speech in which he called for unity among religious groups, arguing that religious conflicts simple spark civil war, terrorism and suffering throughout the continent. “He is a very humble servant of God and this is how he inspires me”.

“They have refused to listen”, he said of the fighters in an interview Saturday. Others, sometimes in the same breath, are wondering if its a big conspiracy geared towards establishing a new, powerful global economic and political system – where treaties are signed, hands are shaked, and funds are transferred in order to protect vulnerable nations (as if this last option were a bad thing).

“But they don’t think about developing the countries, about creating jobs”. Francis said during Mass at Bangui’s cathedral.

He made an unscheduled stop at the country’s only pediatric hospital, where doctors told him that they did not have oxygen and that most of the children there were destined to die of malnutrition or malaria. “Slaves were sold to America, and there are countries that only want to exploit the great wealth Africa has”. “Africa is martyr, a martyr of the exploitation of history”. More than 2 million people are expected to converge near a minor basilica in the Ugandan capital where Pope Francis will celebrate Mass on Saturday, an official with the Roman Catholic Church here said Monday even as workers put in extra hours to spruce up the shrine.

He said he will go to Mexico City to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe; to the southern state of Chiapas on the Guatemalan border; and to Morelia, a city in the center of the country that has experienced much drug violence.

As for future trips, Pope Francis was not full of surprises.