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Madrid, 19th January 2005 (CNA)
- Despite media reports around the world that
the bishops of Spain have thrown their support
behind condoms as a means of preventing AIDS, the
statements by the General Secretary of the Bishops
Conference of Spain, which are the source of the
reports, reiterate the Catholic position that
abstinence and fidelity must be promoted in order
to stop AIDS.
Father Juan Martinez Camino, spokesman for
the bishops, held a meeting with the Health
Minister, Elena Salgado, to discuss the issue of
AIDS prevention. Speaking to the press,
Father Martinez stated that the Church is “very
concerned about and interested in” this “grave
problem,” and he maintained that the position of
the bishops, made know on repeated occasions, in
favor of abstinence and fidelity, “is also backed
up by scientific evidence.”
In this way Father Martinez referred to the
so-called “ABC Strategy,” which was the subject of
the medical magazine “The Lancet” last November,
which revealed that 150 experts from 36 countries
for the first time acknowledged that the promotion
of abstinence and fidelity should be taken into
account in AIDS prevention campaigns.
The ABC Strategy proposes “a common
foundation” for the prevention of AIDS, with the
letters standing for abstinence, be faithful, and
condoms. Father Martinez was reported to
have told the Health Minister that the Church is
against the systematic and unilateral
generalization of the condom as the only method of
prevention. According to Father Martinez,
the meeting was characterized by a “very extensive
and cordial” dialogue that only concerned the
current medical and social status of the
disease.
Likewise, the said the meeting convinced
him that there are certain prejudices against the
position of the Church on AIDS prevention and that
collaboration by “everybody from their respective
areas and responsibilities is what is needed to
try to solve a very serious problem such as this
in Spain and in the world.”
Father Martinez explained that he requested
the meeting “in order to understand well the
positions (of the government) on the matter” and
to find ways to collaborate. “This is our
desire and I hope that the future will take us
down this path,” he said.
Salgado, on the other hand, insisted that
the Church should not question the validity of
using condoms as AIDS prevention, because she says
there are international organizations that endorse
them. |
