Catholic Church and HIV/AIDS
[4][5] The Church's stance has been criticized as unrealistic, ineffective, irresponsible and immoral by some public health officials and AIDS activists,[4][6][7] who share evidence that condoms prevent the transmission of HIV.
In response, Joseph Ratzinger, then-prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, stated that such an approach "would result in at least the facilitation of evil", not merely its toleration.
[21] In September 1990, John Paul II visited the small town of Mwanza, in northern Tanzania, and gave a speech that many believe set the tone for the AIDS crisis in Africa.
"[23] In 2003, Cardinal Trujillo, then president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, stated in a BBC documentary that the "scientific community accepts" that the HIV virus can pass through condoms.
[24] This claim was refuted by the World Health Organisation as "scientifically incorrect" in a formal statement, reflecting their position that condoms provide effective protection against HIV transmission.
In 2005, Pope Benedict XVI (formerly Ratzinger) listed several ways to combat the spread of HIV, including chastity, fidelity in marriage and anti-poverty efforts; he also rejected the use of condoms.
[34] As John Haas, the president for the American National Catholic Centre for Bioethics, noted, Benedict did not address the issue of whether condoms are effective at preventing HIV transmission.
[35] After a trip to Africa, in which he spoke little on AIDS but visited with HIV positive children, Pope Francis dismissed the question of whether or not condoms should be used to fight transmission.
It is a moral duty to prevent such suffering, even if the underlying behavior cannot be condoned in many cases..."[40] Carlo Maria Martini, the archbishop of Milan, opined that when one spouse has HIV but the other does not that using condoms could be considered "a lesser evil".
[45] Martin Rhonheimer, theologian and professor of Ethics and Political Philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, believes that using a condoms to prevent AIDS can be justified on the basis of the principle of double effect.
[63] The Missionaries of Charity, led by Mother Teresa, opened hospices in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco in the 1980s as well.
[66] However, despite its geographic proximity to the infected community, it was reported that the atmosphere at St Vincent's was initially homophobic in the early 1980s, but hospital administrators took action to correct the situation.
[72] DREAM takes a holistic approach, combining highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) with the treatment of malnutrition, tuberculosis, malaria, and sexually transmitted diseases while emphasizing health education at all levels.
[94] Pope Francis visited a hospice on Holy Thursday while he was archbishop of Buenos Aires to wash and kiss the feet of 12 drug addicts with AIDS.
[96] While insisting that there was a personal responsibility to avoid risky behavior, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops rejected the notion that there may be "innocent" or "guilty" victims of the virus.
[98] In Always Our Children, their 1997 pastoral letter on homosexuality, the American bishops noted "importance and urgency" to minister to those with AIDS, especially considering the impact it had on the gay community.
[99] Also in the 1980s, the bishops of the United States issued a pastoral letter, "A Call to Compassion", saying those with AIDS "deserve to remain within our communal consciousness and to be embraced with unconditional love.
[63] The year before, they publicly denounced Proposition 64, a measure pushed by Lyndon H. LaRouche to forcibly quarantine those with AIDS, and encouraged Catholics to vote against it.
[101][102][98] The three day affair drew over 1,000 delegates, including church leaders and the world's top scientists and AIDS researchers, from 85 countries.
[101] At the closing of the conference, John Paul II called for a global plan to combat AIDS and pledged the full support of the Catholic Church for those who were battling it.
[109] In May 2011, the Vatican sponsored another international conference with the theme of "The Centrality of Care for the Person in the Prevention and Treatment of Illnesses Caused by HIV/AIDS", during which church officials continued teaching that condoms were immoral and ineffective"[110][111] Due to sometimes conflicting comments by Benedict, who did not attend the conference, AIDS activists had hoped for a change in the Churches outlook on the use of condoms but they were disappointed.
[113] Cláudio Hummes, then-Archbishop of São Paulo, speaking at the 2003 Plenary Session of the United Nations on the Implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, criticized pharmaceutical companies for making medications prohibitively expensive for many of the world's poorest.
Related barriers to AIDS prevention are racism; the low status of women; and an exploitative global economic system which influences the marketing of medical resources.
[117] According to the Catholic News Service, Church officials have consistently lobbied drug makers and governments in poor nations to increase the provision of antiretroviral medicines to children.
[118][119] At the meeting, UNAIDS Director of the Community Support, Social Justice, and Inclusion Program Deborah Von Zinkernagel reminded church officials that it was also important to work to lessen the stigma of having AIDS.
[119] Within a year the program expanded to include getting diagnostic equipment into poor and remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa so that children and their parents could learn their HIV status.
[121][120] There was no national policy on how to handle priests with AIDS at the time, but a spokesman for the bishops' conference said the church should not be punitive but rather provide them with the same care and support as any other sick person.
[124][123] In 2000, the Kansas City Star released a three-part report that claimed priests were dying of AIDS at a rate four times greater than the general population.
[125] The total number of priests who have or have died of AIDS is unknown, partly due to their desire to keep their diagnoses confidential, and estimates vary widely.
[97] Catholic teaching on condoms and opposition to homosexuality, seen as exacerbating the pandemic, has led groups such as ACT UP to hold protests such as Stop the Church.
