John Paul II claimed condoms are permeable to virus. WHO found Pope impermeable to logic

Pope claims Condoms are permeable to viruses. WHO finds Pope impermeable to logic.
October 11th, 2003

This entry was originally at http://kingsley.blog-city.com/read/309151.htm
From The Guardian, via MadMan:

The Catholic Church is telling people in countries stricken by Aids not to use condoms because they have tiny holes in them through which the HIV virus can pass - potentially exposing thousands of people to risk.

The church is making the claims across four continents despite a widespread scientific consensus that condoms are impermeable to the HIV virus.

The president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, told the programme: “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.

The WHO has condemned the Vatican’s views, saying: “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.”

Of course, this is from the same institution that sentenced people to death for claiming that the Earth was not the center of the universe. They’re a couple of centuries behind, but they keep trying and manage to do enough damage.


7 Responses to “Pope claims Condoms are permeable to viruses. WHO finds Pope impermeable to logic.”

A visitor Says: October 10th, 2003 at 2:37 am

What is equally, if not more disturbing is that people actually belive in the scientific “truths” of the Vatican. Srijith [otherlogs/@/srijith.net]

A visitor Says: October 11th, 2003 at 3:20 am

I aint surprised. These are the same nitwits who still claim that the world was created in 4004BC, and fossils/artifacts were placed to “fool and entrap” scientists into paganism….so of course condoms are permeable (guess theres gonna be whole lot of “immaculate conceptions” now…)
–AshokAshok

A visitor Says: October 11th, 2003 at 4:57 am

Our own Sushma Swaraj believes that “condom-centric” AIDS awareness advertisements promote promiscuity.

But we shouldn’t be too harsh on her. She has a legitimate reason.
She’s had a lobotomy. MadMan

A visitor Says: October 11th, 2003 at 5:38 am
I read about this yesterday. This has to be the most damaging stand taken by the Vatican in modern times.

According to the WHO, latex condoms are the safest means to prevent AIDS and other STDs. What could the church possibly have against saving lives?

I have never understood this dichotomy. On one hand you say God is merciful and forgives, on the other hand you wilfully run down the “different” and condemn them. Why do they have to be so antagonistic to science and technology? Don’t they benefit mankind in the long run?melodrama [melodrama_unleashed@hotmail.com]
Ravages Says: October 11th, 2003 at 6:46 am

Funny thing. And what is more striking is that the Papacy has more sex and violence than any other religious institutions in the world. I know of at-least two real life based stories where a man became Pope by either killing of his enemies, and more often, seducing wifes and daughters of influential people. One so pope (in this fact based fiction book) had his daughter married off to the earlier pope’s son so as to be nominated.

A visitor Says: October 11th, 2003 at 11:54 am

And apparently, the inside logic behind this attempt at dissuading people from using condoms is that ‘condoms promoto promiscuity’….. If only fidelity and promiscuity were as simple as condom usage…..Charu

A visitor Says: October 11th, 2003 at 12:41 pm

well, I think either god realy does not exist or he is a very funny person! incredulous, the way they have gone about declaring this and I fear that it will be blindly believed to… someone [anon.e.mous@indiatimes.com]