A cross section of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and church groups have welcomed the Catholic Church for embracing the use of condoms to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS.
Pope Benedict XVI has said condom use can be justified in some cases to help stop the spread of AIDS.
This is according to the BBC news monitored in Lusaka.
Pope Benedict said during a visit to Cameroon last year that handing out condoms might actually make HIV infection worse.
And Zambia National Aids Network (ZNAN) communications officer Sam Kapembwa says the reality of the current situation requires the use of condoms in certain cases.
“There are cases of discordant couples in which one partner is positive while the other is negative, or both couples are positive. Condoms come in handy in such situations,” he said.
Mr Kapembwa commended the Church for embracing the use of condoms in certain cases.
International Fellowship of Christian Churches Bishop Simon Chihana said his church has always advocated the use of condoms as the best measure of family planning.
“This is a big U-turn by the Catholics on this matter because it has to do with the times we are living in. I think the Catholics condemned it because it promoted promiscuity, but I am sure that the Church has learnt lessons from the reality,” he said.
And Evangelical Youth Alliance president Reverend Moses Lungu said the position taken by Pope Benedict should be encouraged in a way because there are cases where the use of condoms should be encouraged.
Rev Lungu, however, said the spread of AIDS is as a result of people indulging in illicit behaviour.
He said from the worldly perspective, it is all right for people to use condoms.
“For people outside the church, we will not stop people who are using condoms,” he said.
[pullquote]“This is a big U-turn by the Catholics on this matter because it has to do with the times we are living in. I think the Catholics condemned it because it promoted promiscuity, but I am sure that the Church has learnt lessons from the reality,” he said.[/pullquote]
Rev Lungu advised people to stay away from illicit sex.
Pope Benedict XVI has said condom use can be justified in some cases to help stop the spread of AIDS, the first Vatican exception to a long-held policy condemning condom use.
The comments were made in a new book, which the Vatican newspaper ran excerpts of in its Saturday edition.
The Church’s hardline stance over contraception has led to the Vatican being heavily criticised for its position in the context of the AIDS crisis.
The book – Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times – is based on a series of interviews the Pope gave the German Catholic journalist, Peter Seewald, earlier this year.
The Pope, however, made it clear that he considers the use of condoms a last resort and not a way to prevent conception. The example he gave of when they could be used was in the case of male prostitutes.
Amid his vigorous defence of the Church in contemporary society, the Pope acknowledged some of the Church’s failings, like in the sexual-abuse crisis, which he calls “a volcano of filth” sent by the devil.
He pointed to a “readiness for aggression” among those who criticised him for revoking the excommunication of a bishop who denied the scope of the Holocaust.
The Pope also discussed his contentious speech in Regensburg, Germany, in 2006, which provoked the ire of the Muslim world; denounced drug abuse; explained what he described as the impossibility of ordaining women as priests; and, with surprising candour, said that if he did not feel up to the task of being pope, he would resign.
[ Zambia Daily Mail ]
