Pope Benedict's trip to Africa and fighting AIDS

Rome, Italy, Mar 17, 2009 / 10:49 am (CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI began his first papal trip to Africa today, departing from Rome to bring the Gospel to a continent racked with violence and corruption but also one which he sees as burgeoning with hope. On the plane, the Holy Father also addressed the continent’s battle with AIDS and noted that condom distribution “aggravates” the problem.

The Pope’s March 17-23 trip will bring to the fore the Church’s efforts to assist Africans in finding solutions to problems that have dogged international and internal efforts to lift its people out of poverty and beyond corruption.

As is traditional on papal trips, Pope Benedict fielded a series of questions this morning from reporters flying aboard his Alitalia flight to Cameroon. According to The Telegraph, Pope Benedict highlighted the Church’s efforts to fight the spread of AIDS through promoting abstinence and fidelity within marriage.

In fact, said the Pope, AIDS is “a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems."

An increasing number of African countries have adopted the Church’s stance on using... (Continued here)