WHO challenges Philippine bishops' advice on condoms
MANILA, Philippines - The World Health Organization (WHO) Monday defied the Philippines' Catholic Church by criticising its bishops' opposition to the use of condoms as a means of preventing the spread of HIV-AIDS.
Although the WHO statement did not mention the church by name, its statement directly contradicted bishops' recent claims that condoms are too porous and do not work in preventing the spread of infection.
Dr Massimo Ghidinelli, the WHO's regional adviser on HIV-AIDS, said the WHO statement was "intended to clarify some of these regularly returning questions and doubts about the effectiveness of condoms."
He said these doubts and questions were raised as part of a "wave of criticism and opposition to condoms," apparently referring to the church's anti-condom campaign.
Catholic bishops, whose church claims over 80 percent of Filipinos as its followers, have been attacking the government openly after health officials distributed free condoms to mark Valentine's Day.
"Given its high failure rate, the condom cannot really put a stop to AIDS. Moreover, by creating a false sense of security, it... contributes to the further spread of AIDS," the bishops said.
Ghidinelli told AFP that claims made in the bishops' statement were "not correct and the message given to the public is not based on available evidence."
Without naming the church, he stressed that the benefit of condoms in preventing the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases had been scientifically confirmed.
The WHO statement also warned that HIV-AIDS was a "growing concern" in the Philippines, with the number of newly reported infections increasing from one every three days in 2000 to two infections per day in 2009.
Sexual intercourse was the main mode of HIV transmission, it said.
Printer-friendly version
Send to friend
Share your views
Correction....
One experience doesn't translate to all, or a few bad apples doesn't make all apples bad, right? I can still find many more good eating apples when I go to the market, else there will be no sense of desire of having an apple, right? All these experience we have are all part of life, it shouldn't be an excuse in not fulfilling our part of responsibility in regards to our obligation to the lord. What the Bishop and the church is concerned of is, this need to be clarified, that this is not an excuse for immorality. In which in my opinion, immorality, STD and HIV will happen either there is a condom or not. Keyword is "morality"........that's how you prevent all these.
Listen Guys.....
One experience doesn't translate to all, or few bad apples doesn't make all apples bad, right? I can still find many more good eating apples when I go to the market, else there will be sense of desire of having an apple. All these experience we have are all part of life, it shouldn't be an excuse to not fulfill our part of responsibility in regards to our obligation to the lord. What the Bishop is concerned of, is that this need to be clarified that this not an excuse for immorality. In which in my opinion will happen either condom or not.
Another True Story
Forgive me God….
Here’s another true story, we had once a priest who loves cockfighting, and he used the church playground to take care of his roasters. Every time he asked us to go buy feeds, he always told us to got money from the collection. Aside from that, most of us always get yelled up for not taking care of his roasters. After Sunday’s mass, he is nowhere to be found but on the closest cockfighting arena, neglecting most of his priesthood chores such as visiting sick and presiding other out of town masses. One time, he came back with a whole bunch of friends and of course our cook wasn’t prepared for a food for them, and as a result he got fired. After a year on our church, we got audit and it is not surprising to us that most of his cockfighting lost is from the Sunday collections. But to our surprised, he wasn’t only reassign but also promoted as monsignor.
Forgive Me
Forgive me God, but these people pretending to be your servants are out of control.
God created us with free will and that's on the bible. God created us with intellect for us to know what's right and what's not. God created science for us to be able to comprehend His teachings.
If only the church understands the changes of our time, they won't be letting the spread of pandemic such as AIDS. However, the church chose to close its door on the changes of our time. They want us all to be as stupid so that they stole more of our money.
If we Filipino cries about our taxes, why don't we asked where are those Sunday contributions are being used. Yes you are not being forced to contribute, however they keep giving teachings that generosity is good and you should share your blessings to the church.
I’ll tell you a true story, I once lived on the convent and from that short period of time that I was living on the convent, I’ve seen most of the corruption. Our priest’s brother comes to the church every Sunday afternoon to collect goods from that Sunday’s offerings such as rice and vegetable. Every Sunday afternoon, he comes like the church owner to collect whatever he can, and not only that, he even asked for the reimbursement of his fare or sometimes even asked our church driver to drive him back home. Aside from that, two of our priest’s nephews go to school with the church expense. He claimed that they are church servants that they do the church landscaping and other stuffs. However, during the weekdays, they go to school and the weekends they go back home. So tell me how could they possibly do their duties and chores?
I am not generalizing all the priests or servants of God, however we should be vigilant too and where are those monies we’re contributing are going.
question
where did the bishop's get the information that condom do not help prevent STD or AIDs? did they do any samples, investigations or experiment about this? if the Philippine population grows, what will bishops do? STD and AIDS are now epidemic ever since right? will bishop help for treatment of those people who got infected? Think about it.
Instead of telling this to everyone why not preach the right thing to church.
(1 Thessalonians 4:3-5)
It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;