Holy See decries Belgium resolution

BY CINDY WOODEN
THE VATICAN has strongly objected to a Belgian parliamentary resolution that criticised Pope Benedict XVI for his remarks about condoms and Aids prevention.
The Vatican's Secretariat of State said it "deplores the fact that a parliamentary assembly should have thought it appropriate to criticise the Holy Father on the basis of an isolated extract from an interview, separated from its context and used by some groups with a clear intent to intimidate".
The statement said it appeared that those groups were hoping "to dissuade the Pope from expressing himself on certain themes of obvious moral relevance and from teaching the Church's doctrine".
The statement coincided with Cardinal George Pell's defence of the Pope's comments in an Australian newspaper. He said some people "accused the popes of doing more to spread Aids than prostitution and the trucking industry combined".
In fact, the cardinal said, empirical evidence supported the Pope's remark that condoms may be making the Aids situation worse.
Earlier this month the Belgian parliament voted overwhelmingly to have the government relay to the Vatican the parliamentarians' disapproval of Pope Benediet's comments.
The Belgian ambassador to the Holy see, Frank de Coninck, met Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for relations with states, to formally inform the Vatican of the resolution.
The Secretariat of State said that it "notes with regret this action, unusual in the context of the diplomatic relations existing between the Holy See and the kingdom of Belgium".
The Pope was asked about condoms in Aids prevention by reporters aboard his flight to Cameroon last month. After highlighting the Church's efforts to help Aids victims, the Pope said: "One cannot overcome the problem with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, they increase the problem."
The Pope went on to explain that true prevention requires a change in sexual behaviour and a real effort to befriend and care for those living with Aids. In its statement on April 17 the Secretariat of State said the Pepe "also emphasised the commitment of the Church in both these areas. Without this moral and educational dimension, the battle against Aids will not be won."
"While in some European countries an unprecedented media campaign was unleashed concerning the predominant, not to say exclusive, value of prophylactics in the fight against Aids it is consoling to note that the moral considerations articulated by the Holy Father were understood and appreciated, in particular by the Africans and true friends of Africa, as well as by some members of the scientific conualtenity," the statement said.
In the midst of the debate about the Pope's comments on condoms Vatican officials and the Vatican newspaper cited several studies by researchers and by international agencies, including the World,,,gealth Organisation, showing that the most effective anti-Aids campaigns in Africa have been based on efforts to promote abstinence and fidelity in sexual relations.
Edward Green, director of the Aids Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Centre for Population and Develop
ment Studies, told National Review Online last month that "the best evidence we have supports the Pope's comments".
Dr Green said that when an individual uses a condom thinking it will reduce the risk of exposure to HIV he may also take part in riskier behaviour and take greater chances than he would take without condoms, for example by having multiple and concurrent sexual partners.
Cardinal Pell cited Dr Green's research in an article for the Australian Sunday Telegraph this week. He quoted Dr Green saying that "low-cost behavioural change programmes stressing increased monogamy and delayed sexual activity by young people have made the greatest headway in fighting or preventing the disease's spread".
The cardinal pointed to a programme in Uganda that stresses fidelity to one partner. It has been so successful, he said, that similar programmes have been launched in Botswana and Swaziland.
"In Africa and elsewhere, the answer to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases begins with mutual fidelity and abstinence especially among the young unmarried. Purity of heart is central," the cardinal said.