The Pope Vs. Condoms

The following is an email I received from Avaaz.org. Please take a moment to sign the petition. Thank you

This week, on his first visit to Africa, Pope Benedict said that "[AIDS] cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems". The Pope's statement is at odds with the research on AIDS prevention, and a setback to decades of hard work on AIDS education and awareness.
With powerful moral influence over more than 1.1 billion Catholics in the world, and 22 million HIV positive Africans, these words could dramatically affect the AIDS pandemic and put millions of lives at risk. Worldwide concern is starting to show results and a willingness by the Vatican to revise the statement - sign our urgent petition asking the Pope to take care not to undermine proven AIDS prevention strategies: http://www.avaaz.org/en/pope_benedict_petition
The personal beliefs of Catholics and all people should be respected, and the Pope does advocate for other AIDS prevention methods such as abstinence and fidelity that can be effective when combined with condom use.
The Catholic Church engages in a vast amount of social service work, including the care of those living with AIDS. But the Pope's claim that condom distribution is not an effective AIDS prevention mechanism is not supported by research. It's untrue, and if it diminishes condom use, it will be deadly.
The fact is, HIV and AIDS are prevented by condom use. There is no easy solution to the spread of this tragic disease, but condoms and education are the best known prevention combination and have not been found to increase risky sexual behaviour. That is why even priests and nuns working in Africa have questioned the Pope's statements.
We may not be able to ask the Catholic Church to change its broader position, but we are asking the Pope to stop actively speaking out against prevention strategies that work. It's important that people of all beliefs, especially Catholics, call on the Pope to exercise care in his leadership on this issue.
Sign below then spread the word to your friends and family - this petition could actually save lives: http://www.avaaz.org/en/pope_benedict_petition 25 million people worldwide have already died of AIDS, and 12 million children have been left without parents. If enough of us join this outcry, we will win an important battle in the struggle for a world without AIDS.

Pope Benedict says "Condoms can increase the problem of Aids"

"HIV/Aids is a tragedy that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem." This was Pope Benedict's message to Africa at the beginning of his papal visit to the continent. 22 million people are infected with the Aids virus in sub-saharan Africa, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of infections worldwide. Source: BBC

This man is a complete idiot, and I pity those who follow his misguided and life-endangering ways.

Fatal Stamede At Pope Speech

Two people were killed after deadly stampede broke out at a stadium a few hours before Pope Benedict XVI addressed young people in the Angolan capital of Luanda on Saturday. Tens of thousands of Angola's Catholics lined the streets of the capital Saturday for a blessing from the Pope, 81, who urged the country's faithful to reach out and convert people who believe in witchcraft. Source: CBC

What can I say, I guess the catholics still have no respect for other religions, and also don't seem to know anything about crowd control, even though by now with the Pope's crowd drawing ability, one would think that they would have it down to a fine science.  Another typical catholic screw up!

Argentina expels Holocaust bishop

Argentina has ordered an ultra-traditionalist British bishop who denies the Holocaust to leave the country or face expulsion.
The interior ministry said Richard Williamson had been given 10 days to leave Argentina.
Earlier this month the bishop was removed from his post as the head of a Roman Catholic seminary in Argentina.
A row erupted in January after the Pope decided to lift Bishop Williamson's excommunication on an unrelated matter.
The Vatican said the Pope had been unaware of Bishop Williamson's views and had since ordered him to recant. Full Story

Okay, maybe I'm slow, but if you're the Pope, you know 'God's guy on earth', the be all and end all. He who KNOWS everything, the direct line to the big (yes, this is sarcasm) guy in the sky, how is it that you could be "unaware" that the jerkoff Bishop you are reinstating was, scratch that, IS a holocaust denier. How pathetic.

THE DOPE FROM THE POPE

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - A book on Jesus by Pope Benedict XVI is a runaway success in Italy with 50,000 copies sold on the first day and a second edition already planned, the publishers Rizzoli said Tuesday.

"Jesus of Nazareth" was launched on the pontiff's 80th birthday on Monday and is billed as his answer to popular publications such as Dan Brown's best-selling "The Da Vinci Code".
It aims to reconcile the historical figure of Christ with that of the Gospels.
The second edition of 70,000 would take the total print run to 420,000, said a statement from Rizzoli.
The book is being translated into 17 languages, and will soon be available in Latin America, where books by Spanish Jesuit and liberation theologian Jon Sobrino were recently severely criticised by the Vatican.
In his work, Benedict laments "the worst books, which destroy the figure of Jesus and dismantle faith, filled with the supposed results" of scriptural study.
This has been taken by many observers as a clear allusion to "The Da Vinci Code," which was criticised by the Roman Catholic Church.
The pope began writing his book in 2003 when he was a cardinal and headed up the Vatican's doctrinal enforcement body.