Fairfield University is a Jesuit university, thus we are under the umbrella of the Catholic Church and the Vatican. Growing up, as we were taught about the AIDS epidemic, “safe sex” became more than an instruction, it became a national slogan.
Monday was AIDS awareness day; it dominated the media and forced us to listen. Global leaders such as Nelson Mandela begged the world to take notice and fight the AIDS epidemic. Unfortunately, these cries of millions fall on deaf ears in the Vatican; this silence is echoed even here at Fairfield University.
The president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, told the BBC: “The AIDS virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the ‘net’ that is formed by the condom.”
Can this be true? What does the Vatican know that the scientific and health world seem to have failed to discover? Nothing. Some have even accused the Catholic Church’s blatant disregard for scientific facts about condoms as indicative of encouraging genocide.
The World Health Organization reacted firmly to the church’s false statements about condoms: “These incorrect statements about condoms and HIV are dangerous when we are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people, and currently affects at least 42 million. Consistent and correct condom use reduces the risk of HIV infection by 90 percent.”
The church’s stance on contraception has been clear and firm for centuries; any form of artificial contraception is a sin, and the only acceptable form of birth control is natural family planning. Natural family planning doesn’t take into account the danger of unprotected sex or the reality that most of the world is sexually active. This debate over condoned contraception is much greater than whether or not condoms should be provided on campuses; it is an issue of life or death.
In Kenya-where an estimated 20 percent of people have HIV-the church condemns condoms for promoting promiscuity. According to the BBC’s report on the Vatican, if a married man is infected with HIV, the church still condemns the use of condoms because they say they are “useless against the HIV virus.”
Yes, this argument with the church about contraception has been heard time and time again. But now, this is not an issue of sex or God’s intention for a man and woman, this is a global issue of human rights. AIDS is an epidemic, with more than 6,500 people in Africa dying each day from AIDS and 9,500 people becoming infected daily, AIDS is now and in our face. This crisis demands that the church steps away from its archaic concepts of sexual propriety and helps to prevent millions of unnecessary deaths by supporting the use of condoms.
The Catholic Church is well aware of the effects of the AIDS pandemic in Africa. Catholic Relief Services states their AIDS mission on their website: “Catholic Relief Services has been working to alleviate the effects of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, in partnership with the local Church and indigenous agencies while always upholding its commitment to the teachings of the Catholic Church.” In other words, no condoms are provided for and educated about.
The Catholic Church has the ability to mobilize people and raise millions when it decides there is a just cause. Preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS through education about the use of condoms is a truly important and necessary humanitarian issue. Millions of innocent people could be saved. Are we not our brother’s keepers?
I never cease to be amazed by the spirit of the Fairfield community and its continued effort to improve the world around us. That is why I ask you to reflect, and look at the faces of millions who are infected and tell them that a condom is evil. I’m sorry, but I can’t. So, to the Church, and even to this administration, the use of a latex condom will not be the downfall of man, but it is very possible that it will be the lack of condoms that will ultimately be our undoing.
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