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CAFOD welcomes Pope Benedict’s comments on the possible use of condoms

[Daniel Ruiz]

CAFOD welcomes Pope Benedict’s comments on the challenges for people posed by HIV and the possible use of condoms as one aspect of preventing infection.

They resonate with the real challenges that CAFOD has faced in discussion with our partners on the ground for many years and which we know Cardinals, Bishops and moral theologians have also wrestled with; the Pope’s comments will surely prove helpful in moving these discussions forward.

It is increasingly recognised that there is no simple quick-fix solution to HIV prevention. We ask our programme partners in the developing world to give people all the facts necessary to reduce their risk of HIV, including the scientific evidence that condoms can reduce though not remove the risk.

Alongside enabling this fully informed choice for individuals, prevention strategies must, if they are to be effective, seek to change the social and economic circumstances that make people vulnerable to HIV, including poverty, gender inequality, forced migration and sexual violence.

Our home-based care programmes and our work with children orphaned as a result of HIV remind us forcibly of its devastating impact on the poorest and most disadvantaged people, and we will therefore continue through our programmes and work to influence government to press for change on the social and economic circumstances that make people vulnerable to HIV and to mitigate its impact.