Before evening mass at downtown Johannesburg’s Holy Trinity Catholic church, a group of Congolese students were today trying to decode and digest the pope’s apparent break from traditional doctrine on the use of condoms.
Africa is the global centre of HIV/Aids infections. It is also home to an estimated 158-million Catholics. By 2025, it is predicted, one-sixth of the world’s Catholics — about 230-million — will be African. The church’s sphere of influence includes Angola, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Condoms were acceptable “in certain cases” such as male prostitution, Benedict XVI had said. What did the people gathered at the Holy Trinity, which sits above an HIV clinic, make of that?
Djoscky Bindusa Mongenda Tapo (38) was wrestling with contradictions between religion and science. “The pope, as the leader of the church and as a Christian, is wrong to say this,” he said. “But scientifically he is also the leader of many people, and he is right to protect them.
“As a Christian, as a spiritual fact, we cannot accept the use of condoms because to us marriage is between one man and one woman. The church has forbidden the use of condoms even if you are officially married because, if it allowed them, it also allows people to go around with prostitutes. Scientifically, the condoms are helping to protect people from the spread of many sicknesses and prevent premature pregnancies. Sex without condoms is a risk to people’s health and their families.”
He concluded: “Both sides are good but, as Christians, we are not afraid of sickness or to die, but we are afraid of the law of God. As God said one man is for one woman, we cannot go against God for other reasons. But if you are not Christian, you can use condoms if you have partners outside marriage.”
Aids activists have condemned the Vatican’s stance for legitimising ignorance about safe sex, resulting in countless needless deaths.
The pope fanned the flames last year when, on his first visit to Africa, he asserted that condoms were not the solution to HIV and could in fact make the problem worse.
U-turn
South Africa has the world’s biggest HIV caseload and a death toll of nearly 1 000 people a day. But Catholics gathering at the 72-year-old Holy Trinity — a traditional church of pink stone, stained glass, arched doorway and antique bell — had mixed views on the pope’s apparent U-turn and its implications for the continent.
Frank Lessaka, a student from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where about half the population is Catholic, said the pope had a duty to put doctrine first: “The medical side is right, but he is contradicting the religious side. Legally he must emphasise the religious side. The danger is that people will misunderstand what the pope is saying. He is trying to explain the use of condoms to stop HIV, but in a religious way he’s wrong.”
Lessaka (23) added: “Ask first of all why use a condom, who with, which moment? In a marriage, it is advisable if you are sick. But if the pope is urging people to use condoms outside a marriage, the pope is wrong. Abstinence and fidelity are the most advisable. Even a doctor in a hospital will tell you that.”
But Alain Mupundu (30) another Congolese Catholic, strongly disagreed. “In 1998, the prevalence of HIV in my country was 0,8%. Now it is 8% — 10 times greater. We are not all doing abstinence and fidelity. We want to be safe now. It is time to change.
“The pope has talked to the cardinals and I think this was the result of that consultation. After saying we can’t use condoms, we lost too many friends, but now we can change and save some of them. The pope has said the right thing at the right time.”
‘Church’s ignorance has been damaging’
Elsewhere at the church, bathed in spring sunshine near the Nelson Mandela Bridge in Braamfontein, a group of gay and lesbians were also meeting. “For the sake of reducing HIV, it’s the right thing to use protection, especially in Africa,” said Tendai Maposa (30) who has Catholic friends who are HIV-positive. “The Catholic church’s ignorance has been damaging. It must now educate people about HIV so they practise safe sex. I’d like to see the pope go further.”
Bongani Mtlhavani (21) a PR and media consultant, agreed: “This statement has been long overdue — it’s about time. The Catholic church has got a huge following in Africa. Its ignorant position has caused followers to be infected with HIV. It contributed to the infections big time.”
Another member of the group, Dutchman Peter Van den Akker, cautioned that while papal teachings doubtless influenced hearts and minds in Africa, not every Catholic blindly obeyed the Vatican’s strictures.
He outlined a more fluid situation: “My experience of working in Africa is that although the Catholic church has been negative about condoms, I meet priests and nurses in Uganda who have a typical Catholic attitude: the pope says this, but I do that because my conscience tells me to.
“On the other hand, the black clergy I know in west Africa, for example in Ghana, are even more Roman than the pope himself. They refused to participate in an educational programme because they did not want to discuss this as even a problem.”
Van den Akker (64) a freelance journalist, expressed frustration that the pope, who cited the example of male prostitution for acceptable condom use, had left his overall position vague. “I would like to see the pope say more,” he said. “From a man of his status and influence this statement is quite remarkable, but it’s one small step. The longer he waits, the bigger the problem will be.”
The sentiment was echoed today by Aids activists in South Africa. Caroline Nenguke, a spokesperson for the Treatment Action Campaign, said: “Historically the Catholic church has been in denial with regard to condom use. For the pope to say they can be used in certain circumstances is a step in the right direction.
“But we still have thousands of steps before he stands on a proper platform and says condom use is an effective way of preventing HIV.” – guardian.co.uk