Vatican Condemns Condoms as Ineffective Against HIV

By Erin Ferdinand Utne.Com
Published on October 1, 2003

The Vatican has advised people living in AIDS-stricken countries
not to use condoms, as they contain microscopic holes that are
permeable to HIV.

According to a report from the BBC, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez
Trujilo, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the
Family called for major health organizations to issue a warning
about the hazards of condom use. ‘The AIDS virus is roughly 450
times smaller than the spermatozoon [and can] easily pass through
the ‘net’ that is formed by the condom,’ said Trujilo. ‘These
margins of uncertainty . . . should represent an obligation on the
part of the health ministries and all these campaigns to act in the
same way as they do with cigarettes, which they state to be a
danger.’

The World Health Organization quickly condemned the Vatican’s
statement as ‘dangerous’ and ‘incorrect’ in the face of ‘a global
pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people, and
currently affects at least 42 million.’ The agency argues that
‘consistent and correct’ condom use reduces the risk of HIV
transmission by 90 percent and that ‘intact condoms . . . are
essentially impermeable to the smallest STD virus.’

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Vatican: Condoms Don’t Stop AIDS

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