It may be old news for some, but Pope Benedict announced in November in the Vatican newspaper that the use of condoms by prostitutes should be condoned by the Catholic church. I raise a glass to him. He did qualify the statement by saying ‘it is not the true and appropriate way to fight HIV’. I presume he had to qualify his statement to appease the hierarchy beneath him. In Africa during the last ten years, the refusal of the Catholic Church to condone condoms has resulted in the spread of HIV among the Catholic population where statements like, ‘condoms do not protect you from HIV’ ‘viruses pass through rubber’ and other similar dogmas, have been promulgated by the Church’s representatives. As an atheist with no religious bent at all, I welcome the reversal. It will save lives, not just in Africa but in Europe too. Who knows, maybe Andrew Lansley, the Secretary for Health in the UK, will allow prostitutes to claim back the VAT on their condoms and make the tax reclaimable too. It would be a nice gesture. :-) |