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Not sure how Pope was added to sections. Catholic churches serve the public so no evidence for "pastoral" press release care maybe.
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The Church is concerned that promotion of condom use will lead to irresponsible, [[risky sexual behavior]], including promiscuity and prostitution. Both individuals and governments could come to rely on condoms as the primary line of defense rather than emphasizing the need for "partner fidelity," the church warns.{{fact|date=May 2020}}
The Church is concerned that promotion of condom use will lead to irresponsible, [[risky sexual behavior]], including promiscuity and prostitution. Both individuals and governments could come to rely on condoms as the primary line of defense rather than emphasizing the need for "partner fidelity," the church warns.{{fact|date=May 2020}}


===Pope John Paul II===
===John Paul II===
Pope [[John Paul II]] upheld the church's traditional prohibition on condoms.<ref name="Condom2" /> On 15 November 1989, John Paul II addressed the 4th International Conference of the [[Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers]] in the following terms: "It seems profoundly damaging to the dignity of the human being, and for this reason morally illicit, to support a prevention of AIDS that is based on a recourse to means and remedies that violate an authentically human sense of sexuality, and which are a palliative to the deeper suffering which involve the responsibility of individuals and of society."<ref name="Episcopal Conference of Madagascar" /><ref name="Lx3Ih" /> This was interpreted by some, including the [[Roman Catholicism in Madagascar|bishops of Madagascar]], as a "solemn reminder" that condoms were not an acceptable "lesser evil," as some had suggested.<ref name="Episcopal Conference of Madagascar" />
Pope [[John Paul II]] upheld the church's traditional prohibition on condoms.<ref name="Condom2" /> On 15 November 1989, John Paul II addressed the 4th International Conference of the [[Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers]] in the following terms: "It seems profoundly damaging to the dignity of the human being, and for this reason morally illicit, to support a prevention of AIDS that is based on a recourse to means and remedies that violate an authentically human sense of sexuality, and which are a palliative to the deeper suffering which involve the responsibility of individuals and of society."<ref name="Episcopal Conference of Madagascar" /><ref name="Lx3Ih" /> This was interpreted by some, including the [[Roman Catholicism in Madagascar|bishops of Madagascar]], as a "solemn reminder" that condoms were not an acceptable "lesser evil," as some had suggested.<ref name="Episcopal Conference of Madagascar" />


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John Paul's position was harshly criticized by some doctors and [[AIDS]] activists who said that it led to deaths and millions of [[AIDS]] [[orphan]]s.<ref name="Condom2" /> It was also suggested that his position on condoms also cost him the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], which he was widely expected to receive.{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=129-130}}
John Paul's position was harshly criticized by some doctors and [[AIDS]] activists who said that it led to deaths and millions of [[AIDS]] [[orphan]]s.<ref name="Condom2" /> It was also suggested that his position on condoms also cost him the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], which he was widely expected to receive.{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=129-130}}


===Pope Benedict XVI===
===Benedict XVI===


In 1988, a debate within the Catholic Church over the use of [[condom]]s to prevent [[AIDS]] sparked an intervention from Rome. The Church in 1968 had already stated in [[Humanae Vitae]] that chemical and barrier methods of contraception went against Church teachings. The debate was over the different issue of whether or not condoms could be used, not as contraceptives, but as a means of preventing the spread of [[HIV/AIDS]] and other [[sexually transmitted diseases]]. In 1987, the [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops|U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops]] issued a document suggesting that education on the use of condoms could be an acceptable part of an anti-AIDS program.
In 1988, a debate within the Catholic Church over the use of [[condom]]s to prevent [[AIDS]] sparked an intervention from Rome. The Church in 1968 had already stated in [[Humanae Vitae]] that chemical and barrier methods of contraception went against Church teachings. The debate was over the different issue of whether or not condoms could be used, not as contraceptives, but as a means of preventing the spread of [[HIV/AIDS]] and other [[sexually transmitted diseases]]. In 1987, the [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops|U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops]] issued a document suggesting that education on the use of condoms could be an acceptable part of an anti-AIDS program.
Line 44: Line 44:
This explanation was interpreted by many as a change of tack by the Vatican<ref name="MGzW5" /> which necessitated a clarification from the Vatican that "the pope does not morally justify the disordered exercise of sexuality, but maintains that the use of the condom to diminish the danger of infection may be "a first assumption of responsibility," as opposed to not using the condom and exposing the other person to a fatal risk.<ref name="tWcI6" /> As John Haas, the president for the American [[National Catholic Centre for Bioethics]], noted, Benedict did not address the issue of whether condoms are effective at preventing HIV transmission. The new statement from Benedict was criticized by conservative Catholics such as Jimmy Akin, who described Benedict's statements as "private opinions" as opposed to "official Church teaching."<ref name="Nj1Z2" />
This explanation was interpreted by many as a change of tack by the Vatican<ref name="MGzW5" /> which necessitated a clarification from the Vatican that "the pope does not morally justify the disordered exercise of sexuality, but maintains that the use of the condom to diminish the danger of infection may be "a first assumption of responsibility," as opposed to not using the condom and exposing the other person to a fatal risk.<ref name="tWcI6" /> As John Haas, the president for the American [[National Catholic Centre for Bioethics]], noted, Benedict did not address the issue of whether condoms are effective at preventing HIV transmission. The new statement from Benedict was criticized by conservative Catholics such as Jimmy Akin, who described Benedict's statements as "private opinions" as opposed to "official Church teaching."<ref name="Nj1Z2" />


===Pope Francis===
===Francis===
After his first trip to Africa, in which he visited with children at a hospital infected with HIV, Pope Francis dismissed the question of whether or not condoms should be used to fight transmission.<ref name=indicates/> Francis said there were bigger issues facing the world, such as a lack of clean water, malnutrition, and environmental exploitation, than getting into debates about condom usage.<ref name=indicates/>
After his first trip to Africa, in which he visited with children at a hospital infected with HIV, Pope Francis dismissed the question of whether or not condoms should be used to fight transmission.<ref name=indicates/> Francis said there were bigger issues facing the world, such as a lack of clean water, malnutrition, and environmental exploitation, than getting into debates about condom usage.<ref name=indicates/>


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Catholic hospitals were among the first to treat HIV/AIDS patients<ref name="plague1" />{{efn|[[Saint Clare's Hospital (Manhattan)|Saint Clare's Hospital]] was the first hospital to provide care in New York.<ref name="plague1" />}} in the early 1980s.{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=118}} With the spread of the disease to North America, the Church in the United States established the National Catholic AIDS Network to provide care to AIDS patients, their families, and loved ones. By 2008, Catholic Charities USA had 1,600 agencies providing services to AIDS sufferers, including housing and mental health services.<ref name="journalism.nyu.edu" /> AIDS arrived in Australia in the 1980s. Soon after, the [[Sisters of Charity]] began to admit patients suffering from the new disease at [[St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney]], in Sydney's inner city, which became a world leader in HIV research.<ref name="yLVBA" /> However, despite its geographic proximity to the infected community, it was reported that the atmosphere at St Vincent's was initially homophobic in the early 1980s, but hospital administrators took action to correct the situation.<ref name="afoao" />
Catholic hospitals were among the first to treat HIV/AIDS patients<ref name="plague1" />{{efn|[[Saint Clare's Hospital (Manhattan)|Saint Clare's Hospital]] was the first hospital to provide care in New York.<ref name="plague1" />}} in the early 1980s.{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=118}} With the spread of the disease to North America, the Church in the United States established the National Catholic AIDS Network to provide care to AIDS patients, their families, and loved ones. By 2008, Catholic Charities USA had 1,600 agencies providing services to AIDS sufferers, including housing and mental health services.<ref name="journalism.nyu.edu" /> AIDS arrived in Australia in the 1980s. Soon after, the [[Sisters of Charity]] began to admit patients suffering from the new disease at [[St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney]], in Sydney's inner city, which became a world leader in HIV research.<ref name="yLVBA" /> However, despite its geographic proximity to the infected community, it was reported that the atmosphere at St Vincent's was initially homophobic in the early 1980s, but hospital administrators took action to correct the situation.<ref name="afoao" />


⚫
===John Paul II===
==Pastoral care for HIV/AIDS patients==
⚫
===Pope John Paul II===
There were some church authorities who considered HIV/ADIS a possible retribution for sin, but [[John Paul II]] rejected prejudice against those infected with it.{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=119}} His first public meeting with AIDS patients was at [[Mission Dolores]] in San Francisco's [[Castro district]] during his 1987 pastoral trip to the United States.<ref name=stein/>{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=120}} In a city hit especially hard by the AIDS pandemic, he assured those in attendance of God's love and embraced them both physically and verbally.<ref name=stein/><ref name=nolte/>{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=120}} One of those he hugged was a four year old boy who had contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion.{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=}}<ref name=nolte/> Doing so, according to Xavier Gravend-Tirole, "countered the mistaken reasoning the HIV pandemic might represent God's displeasure with sinners."{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=120}} The pontiff "severely censured theologies" that attributed AIDS to divine retribution.{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=134}}
There were some church authorities who considered HIV/ADIS a possible retribution for sin, but [[John Paul II]] rejected prejudice against those infected with it.{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=119}} His first public meeting with AIDS patients was at [[Mission Dolores]] in San Francisco's [[Castro district]] during his 1987 pastoral trip to the United States.<ref name=stein/>{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=120}} In a city hit especially hard by the AIDS pandemic, he assured those in attendance of God's love and embraced them both physically and verbally.<ref name=stein/><ref name=nolte/>{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=120}} One of those he hugged was a four year old boy who had contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion.{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=}}<ref name=nolte/> Doing so, according to Xavier Gravend-Tirole, "countered the mistaken reasoning the HIV pandemic might represent God's displeasure with sinners."{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=120}} The pontiff "severely censured theologies" that attributed AIDS to divine retribution.{{sfn|Gravend-Tirole|2008|p=134}}


On the same trip, he spoke of AIDS repeatedly and urged people to have compassion for those with it.<ref name=nolte/> He also compared healthcare workers to the [[Good Samaritan]], saying they must "show the love and compassion Christ and His church" to those with AIDS.<ref name=fore/> "Those who suffer from AIDS, even in their unique pathology, are entitled to receive adequate health care, respectful comprehension and complete solidarity, just like every other ailing person," the John Paul II said. John Paul II also assailed "every form of discrimination" against AIDS patients.<ref name=bias/>
On the same trip, he spoke of AIDS repeatedly and urged people to have compassion for those with it.<ref name=nolte/> He also compared healthcare workers to the [[Good Samaritan]], saying they must "show the love and compassion Christ and His church" to those with AIDS.<ref name=fore/> "Those who suffer from AIDS, even in their unique pathology, are entitled to receive adequate health care, respectful comprehension and complete solidarity, just like every other ailing person," the John Paul II said. John Paul II also assailed "every form of discrimination" against AIDS patients.<ref name=bias/>


===Pope Francis===
===Francis===
As [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Buenos Aires|archbishop of Buenos Aires]], Francis visited a hospice on [[Holy Thursday]] to wash and kiss the feet of 12 AIDS patients.<ref name=sympathy/> While attending [[World Youth Day]] in Panama, he visited a Church-run home for those infected with HIV.<Ref name=panama/> The trip was intended to reduce the stigma of having HIV/AIDS, which is strong in that country.<Ref name=panama/>
As [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Buenos Aires|archbishop of Buenos Aires]], Francis visited a hospice on [[Holy Thursday]] to wash and kiss the feet of 12 AIDS patients.<ref name=sympathy/> While attending [[World Youth Day]] in Panama, he visited a Church-run home for those infected with HIV.<Ref name=panama/> The trip was intended to reduce the stigma of having HIV/AIDS, which is strong in that country.<Ref name=panama/>


Revision as of 04:20, 15 May 2020

Main article: Catholic Church and health care
See also: Catholic Church and homosexuality

Catholic theology of sexuality prohibits the use of artificial contraception, including condoms, which can be effective in helping to prevent transition of the HIV virus. Instead, the Church argues for abstinence before marriage and being faithful to one's spouse as the preferred methods for halting the pandemic. This position has been criticized by public health officials and AIDS activists who argue the Church's stance is unrealistic, ineffective, irresponsible and immoral.

The Catholic Church operates over 117,000 health centers, making it one of the largest providers of HIV/AIDS care. It partners with other institutions, including the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Much of the church's work is focused on the developing world, though programs exist in the Global North as well.

Catholic teaching on condoms

Main article: Catholic theology of sexuality § Contraception

Many early Catholic Church Fathers made statements condemning the use of contraception.[1][2][3] Catholic theology of sexuality and Catholic theology of the body give a deeply theological meaning to every act of sexual intimacy and the Catechism of the Catholic Church specifies that all sex acts must be both unitive and procreative.[4] As such, the Church's traditional teaching on contraception has included a prohibition on condoms.[5][6][7]

Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae (On Human Life), which rejected the use of artificial contraception, was issued during the sexual revolution of the 1960s.[8] It asserted that contraceptives work against the intimate relationship and moral order of husband and wife by directly opposing God's will.[8]

The use of condoms specifically to prevent the spread of AIDS is more controversial, however, with Catholic theologians arguing both sides.[9][10][11] Pope Benedict XVI pointed out that when a prostitute uses a condom "with the intention of reducing the risk of infection, can be a first step in a movement towards a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality."[12][13] His comments were not an acceptance of condoms per se, but rather a recognition that with the law of gradualness people come to grow in holiness over time.[13] The concern for others thus suggested is laudable, he said, but it does not mean that either prostitution or condoms are in themselves good.[14][15][13]

While the condom is widely accepted by those in medical and administrative professions as a reliable way to stop the spread of AIDS, it is also accepted by the same groups of people that the surest way to avoid HIV is abstinence.[16] For its part, the Catholic Church emphasizes "education towards sexual responsibility", focusing on partner fidelity rather than the use of condoms as the primary means of preventing the transmission of AIDS.[17] The Church's position is that all responsible sex must occur within the framework of a faithful, monogamous marriage. In addition, various members of the Church hierarchy have pointed out that condoms have a non-zero risk of transmitting AIDS.

The Church is concerned that promotion of condom use will lead to irresponsible, risky sexual behavior, including promiscuity and prostitution. Both individuals and governments could come to rely on condoms as the primary line of defense rather than emphasizing the need for "partner fidelity," the church warns.[citation needed]

John Paul II

Pope John Paul II upheld the church's traditional prohibition on condoms.[18] On 15 November 1989, John Paul II addressed the 4th International Conference of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers in the following terms: "It seems profoundly damaging to the dignity of the human being, and for this reason morally illicit, to support a prevention of AIDS that is based on a recourse to means and remedies that violate an authentically human sense of sexuality, and which are a palliative to the deeper suffering which involve the responsibility of individuals and of society."[19][20] This was interpreted by some, including the bishops of Madagascar, as a "solemn reminder" that condoms were not an acceptable "lesser evil," as some had suggested.[19]

In September 1990, John Paul II visited the small town of Mwanza, in northern Tanzania, and gave a speech that many believe set the tone for the AIDS crisis in Africa.[21] John Paul II said that condoms were a sin in any circumstance.[21] He lauded family values and praised fidelity and abstinence as the only true ways to combat the disease.[21] In December 1995, the Pontifical Council for the Family issued guidelines saying that "parents must also reject the promotion of so-called "safe sex" or "safer sex," a dangerous and immoral policy based on the deluded theory that the condom can provide adequate protection against AIDS."[22]

John Paul's position was harshly criticized by some doctors and AIDS activists who said that it led to deaths and millions of AIDS orphans.[18] It was also suggested that his position on condoms also cost him the Nobel Peace Prize, which he was widely expected to receive.[23]

Benedict XVI

In 1988, a debate within the Catholic Church over the use of condoms to prevent AIDS sparked an intervention from Rome. The Church in 1968 had already stated in Humanae Vitae that chemical and barrier methods of contraception went against Church teachings. The debate was over the different issue of whether or not condoms could be used, not as contraceptives, but as a means of preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. In 1987, the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a document suggesting that education on the use of condoms could be an acceptable part of an anti-AIDS program.

In response, Joseph Ratzinger, then-Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, stated that such an approach "would result in at least the facilitation of evil," not merely its toleration.[a]. Some critics argued that Ratzinger's approach would lead to increases in the frequency of HIV/AIDS infections, while many Catholics dispute this and emphasize the value of faithful relationships or chastity.[citation needed] In 2005, Benedict listed several ways to combat the spread of HIV, including chastity, fidelity in marriage and anti-poverty efforts; he also rejected the use of condoms.[24]

In 2009, Benedict stated that "if there is no human dimension, if Africans do not help [by responsible behaviour], the problem cannot be overcome by the distribution of prophylactics: on the contrary, they increase it" and reiterated his view that "the solution must have two elements: firstly, bringing out the human dimension of sexuality, that is to say a spiritual and human renewal that would bring with it a new way of behaving towards others, and secondly, true friendship offered above all to those who are suffering, a willingness to make sacrifices and to practise self-denial, to be alongside the suffering."[25]

Also in 2005, a senior research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, Edward C. Green, stated that while "in theory, condom promotions ought to work everywhere ... that's not what the research in Africa shows."[26] Green also indicated that strategies that worked in Africa were "strategies that break up these multiple and concurrent sexual networks – or, in plain language, faithful mutual monogamy or at least reduction in numbers of partners, especially concurrent ones."[26] He was sharply criticized for these[27] and other comments, including by the president of the International AIDS Society.[28]

Law of gradualness

In 2010, comments Benedict made in an interview with journalist Peter Seewald regarding condom use attracted attention in the media. In the context of an extended discussion on the help the Church is giving AIDS victims and the need to fight the banalization of sexuality, and in response to the charge that "It is madness to forbid a high-risk population to use condoms", Benedict stated:

There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality.[29]

This explanation was interpreted by many as a change of tack by the Vatican[30] which necessitated a clarification from the Vatican that "the pope does not morally justify the disordered exercise of sexuality, but maintains that the use of the condom to diminish the danger of infection may be "a first assumption of responsibility," as opposed to not using the condom and exposing the other person to a fatal risk.[31] As John Haas, the president for the American National Catholic Centre for Bioethics, noted, Benedict did not address the issue of whether condoms are effective at preventing HIV transmission. The new statement from Benedict was criticized by conservative Catholics such as Jimmy Akin, who described Benedict's statements as "private opinions" as opposed to "official Church teaching."[32]

Francis

After his first trip to Africa, in which he visited with children at a hospital infected with HIV, Pope Francis dismissed the question of whether or not condoms should be used to fight transmission.[33] Francis said there were bigger issues facing the world, such as a lack of clean water, malnutrition, and environmental exploitation, than getting into debates about condom usage.[33]

Episcopal conferences

A number of episcopal conferences have suggested that condom use may be acceptable in some circumstances to prevent AIDS. One of the first episcopal conferences to take such a stance was the French Bishops Council which asserted in 1989 that, "The whole population and especially the young should be informed of the risks. Prophylactic measures exist." In 1996, the Social Commission of the French Bishops' Conference said that condom use "can be understood in the case of people for whom sexual activity is an ingrained part of their lifestyle and for whom [that activity] represents a serious risk."[34] In 1993, the German Bishops Conference noted: "In the final analysis, human conscience constitutes the decisive authority in personal ethics ... consideration must be given ... to the spread of AIDS. It is a moral duty to prevent such suffering, even if the underlying behavior cannot be condoned in many cases. ...The church ... has to respect responsible decision-making by couples."[35]

Dissent

There have been a number of Catholics and theologians who have dissented from the Church's position on the use of condoms.

In April 2006, in response to a very specific question from the bioethicist Ignazio Marino, Carlo Maria Martini opined that in certain cases the usage of condoms might be allowable stating, "The use of condoms can, in certain situations, be a lesser evil."[36] He stressed the particular case of married couples where one has HIV or AIDS.[37] But he quickly noted that one thing is the principle of the lesser evil in such cases, and quite another the subject who has to convey those things publicly, thus it is not up to the Church authorities to support condom use publicly, because of "the risk of promoting an irresponsible attitude". The Church is more likely to support other morally sustainable means, such as abstinence.[38]

Godfried Danneels, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, has said that, although abstinence is preferable, condoms are acceptable as a means of preventing AIDS.[citation needed] In an interview with the Dutch Catholic broadcaster RKK, he said: "When someone is HIV positive and his partner says 'I want to have sexual relations with you', he doesn't have to do that, if you ask me. But, when he does, he has to use a condom, because otherwise he adds to a sin against the sixth commandment (thou shalt not commit adultery) a sin against the fifth (thou shalt not kill)."[citation needed] He added: "This comes down to protecting yourself in a preventive manner against a disease or death. It cannot be entirely morally judged in the same manner as a pure method of birth control."[citation needed]

Although he fully endorsed John Paul II's views on bioethics, Jean-Marie Lustiger, the archbishop of Paris, considered the use of condoms to be acceptable if one of the partners had HIV.[39]

Kevin Dowling, bishop of Rustenburg, South Africa, believes that the Catholic Church should reverse its position on the use of condoms to prevent HIV transmission.[40] Dowling first announced his position on condom use in 2001, in a response to a question by a Catholic news agency reporter during a bishops' conference in southern Africa.[40] After stating that the bishop's conference had not taken a position on condom use, Dowling was asked for his personal opinion, and said that he believed condoms should be used to prevent the spread of HIV.[40] Following this, he received a number of rebukes from the South African papal nuncio. The bishop's conference condemned his words, describing condoms as "an immoral and misguided weapon" in the fight against HIV, and argued that condom use could even encourage the spread of HIV by promoting extramarital sex.[41]

Criticism from outside the church

The Church's stance has been criticized as unrealistic, ineffective, irresponsible and immoral by some public health officials and AIDS activists.[17][42][43][42] Empirical evidence suggests that, although condoms do not prevent STD transmission in all cases,[44] condoms reduce the numbers of those who are infected with an STD, including HIV.[45][46][47][48][49][50] Some researchers claim that the primary challenge is getting people to use condoms all the time.[51]

Edward C. Green disagreed, saying that empirical evidence showed higher, not lower, rates of HIV infection when condoms were made more available.[52] James Shelton, of the US Agency for International Development, said that one of the ten damaging myths about the fight against AIDS is that condoms are the answer. "Condoms alone have limited impact in generalised epidemics [as in Africa]," Shelton wrote.[53]

Some researchers claim that abstinence-only sex education does not work, and comprehensive sex education should be used instead.[54][55][56] For instance, it is claimed that abstinence only education fails to decrease people's risks of transmitting STDs in the developed world.[57]

Medical care for AIDS patients

St Vincent's Hospital, New York, was one of many Catholic health institutions to pioneer AIDS treatment.

The Catholic Church, with over 117,000 health centers, is the largest private provider of HIV/AIDS care.[58] This includes, according to the Vatican, 5,000 hospitals, 18,000 dispensaries, and 9,000 orphanages.[59][60] Medical facilities range from "clinics in the deepest jungle to large urban hospitals in the developing world."[61] Catholic medical centers work to both treat those already infected and make effort to prevent the spread of the disease. While not allowing the use of condoms,[61] Catholic Church-related organizations provide more than 25% of all HIV treatment, care, and support throughout the world,[59][58][62] with 12% coming from Catholic Church organizations and 13% coming from Catholic non-governmental organizations.[63]

Much of the Church's aid effort is concentrated in developing nations – in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.[64][65] In 2008, the Church spent a total of €180 million ($235 million) on AIDS care, according to Caritas Internationalis.[58]

Catholic hospitals were among the first to treat HIV/AIDS patients[66][b] in the early 1980s.[67] With the spread of the disease to North America, the Church in the United States established the National Catholic AIDS Network to provide care to AIDS patients, their families, and loved ones. By 2008, Catholic Charities USA had 1,600 agencies providing services to AIDS sufferers, including housing and mental health services.[64] AIDS arrived in Australia in the 1980s. Soon after, the Sisters of Charity began to admit patients suffering from the new disease at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, in Sydney's inner city, which became a world leader in HIV research.[68] However, despite its geographic proximity to the infected community, it was reported that the atmosphere at St Vincent's was initially homophobic in the early 1980s, but hospital administrators took action to correct the situation.[69]

John Paul II

There were some church authorities who considered HIV/ADIS a possible retribution for sin, but John Paul II rejected prejudice against those infected with it.[70] His first public meeting with AIDS patients was at Mission Dolores in San Francisco's Castro district during his 1987 pastoral trip to the United States.[71][72] In a city hit especially hard by the AIDS pandemic, he assured those in attendance of God's love and embraced them both physically and verbally.[71][73][72] One of those he hugged was a four year old boy who had contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion.[74][73] Doing so, according to Xavier Gravend-Tirole, "countered the mistaken reasoning the HIV pandemic might represent God's displeasure with sinners."[72] The pontiff "severely censured theologies" that attributed AIDS to divine retribution.[62]

On the same trip, he spoke of AIDS repeatedly and urged people to have compassion for those with it.[73] He also compared healthcare workers to the Good Samaritan, saying they must "show the love and compassion Christ and His church" to those with AIDS.[75] "Those who suffer from AIDS, even in their unique pathology, are entitled to receive adequate health care, respectful comprehension and complete solidarity, just like every other ailing person," the John Paul II said. John Paul II also assailed "every form of discrimination" against AIDS patients.[76]

Francis

As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis visited a hospice on Holy Thursday to wash and kiss the feet of 12 AIDS patients.[77] While attending World Youth Day in Panama, he visited a Church-run home for those infected with HIV.[78] The trip was intended to reduce the stigma of having HIV/AIDS, which is strong in that country.[78]

Bishops

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was the first church body to address the pandemic in 1987 with a document entitled "The Many Faces of AIDS: A Gospel Response."[72] On January 9, 1989, the French bishops issued "AIDS: Solidarity and Personal Responsibility."[79] Also in the 1980s, the bishops of the United States issued a pastoral letter, "A Call to Compassion," saying those with AIDS "deserve to remain within our communal consciousness and to be embraced with unconditional love."[75] In 2001, in an effort to fight discrimination against AIDS patients, the bishops of South Africa declared that "AIDS must never be considered as a punishment from God."[80]

Vatican AIDS Conferences

1989 conference

In 1989, the Vatican held a conference on AIDS.[81][82] The three day affair drew over 1,000 delegates, including church leaders and the world's top scientists and AIDS researchers, from 85 countries.[81][76] It included Robert Gallo, the co-discoverer of HIV, Nobel Prize winners, theologians, hospital administrators, and psychologists to develop a pandemic response that was total, spiritual, cultural, psychological, and medical.[83][84] At the opening session of the conference, Cardinal John O'Connor urged the public to be treated with respect and not as public health hazards, as outcasts, or shunned and left to die.[81][76][82] This included, he said, those in prison who were often put in solitary confinement until they died.[81] O'Connor also reiterated his opposition to condoms as a method to prevent the transition of HIV.[81]

The conference was briefly halted when John White, an Irish born priest, was detained outside.[84] White, who contracted HIV was serving as a missionary in Kenya, held a sign stating "The Church Has AIDS."[84] He was later readmitted to the conference.[84]

At the closing of the conference, John Paul II called for a global plan to combat AIDS and pledged the full support of the Catholic Church for those who were battling it.[76][85] The Church, he said, was "called upon as a protagonist in this new area of human suffering."[86] Doing so, he said, was fundamental to the mission of the Church.[76] He said the church was called to both help prevent the spread of the disease and to care for those infected with it.[86] Following the conference, James M. Graham, an American priest, as appointed as the president of the newly formed International Christian AIDS Network.[85] The network was charged with providing information to priests around the world on HIV and AIDS.[85]

At a meeting of the bishops of the United States just prior to the Vatican conference, the American bishops overwhelmingly adopted a statement on HIV/AIDS entitled "Called to Compassion and Responsibility: A Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis."[87][88] The statement made several points, including calling for the best medical and scientific information, the need for HIV-infected people to be treated with care and compassion, and the need for greater education to inform the public about the disease.[87] The bishops also called for additional resources, both medical and pastoral, to people with AIDS, and for their civil rights to be protected.[85][89]

It also reiterated traditional Catholic sexual morality and rejected condoms and needle exchange programs as methods to halt the spread,[88][90] though the portion on condoms made up only a small portion of the document.[89] The statement said that treating AIDS patients with compassion was "the only authentic Gospel response"[88] and condemned discrimination or violence against people with AIDS.[85] It rejected the notion that AIDS was to be seen as a punishment from God, and efforts to soften the language were unsuccessful for fear that it could be used as a pretense to harm LBGT people or might be seen as portraying HIV as "God's revenge."[88]

2011 conference

In May 2011, the Vatican sponsored another international conference with the theme of "The Centrality of Care for the Person in the Prevention and Treatment of Illnesses Caused by HIV/AIDS", during which church officials continued teaching that condoms were immoral and ineffective"[91][92] Due to sometimes conflicting comments by Benedict, who did not attend the conference, AIDS activists had hoped for a change in the Churches outlook on the use of condoms but they were disappointed.[92]

Zygmunt Zimowski, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers, called for a holistic approach to HIV prevention and treatment, while also stressing victims behavior as a cause "Were promiscuity not endemic, HIV wouldn't be an epidemic."[91][92] He said it could not simply be considered a medical or public health issue.[91]

Church officials also condemned the fact that those in poorer parts of the world receive substandard medical care.[92]

Social justice

At the 1989 Vatican Conference on AIDS, John Paul II declared that "AIDS has by far many more profound repercussions of a moral, social, economic, juridical and structural nature, not only on individual families and in neighbourhood communities, but also on nations and on the entire community of peoples…."[86] During a 1990 visit to Dar es Salaam in East Africa, which had one of the highest rates of AIDS infections in all of Africa, he urged the world to work on behalf of AIDS patients and to promote "the true well-being of the human family."[93] Likewise, he condemned the public authorities, which, out of either indifference, condemnation, or discrimination, did not act to alleviate their suffering.[93] Archbishop Fiorenzo Angelini, the convention's convener, said "victims are our brothers and we should not sit in judgement of them."[84]

During the 2001 Special Session of the United Nations on HIV/AIDS, the pontiff wrote that AIDS was "not only a health problem, since the disease has tragic consequences for the social, economic, and political life of peoples."[94] He also raised special concern about the transmission of the virus from mother to child and access to medical care and life saving medications.[94] Cláudio Hummes, then-Archbishop of São Paulo, speaking at the 2003 Plenary Session of the United Nations on the Implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, criticized pharmacuetical companies for making medications prohibitively expensive for many of the world's poorest.[94]

Ethicist Lisa Sowle Cahill has said that the "primary cause of the spread of this horrendous disease is poverty. Related barriers to AIDS prevention are racism; the low status of women; and an exploitative global economic system which influences marketing of medical resources."[95] Medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer and David Walton, along with priest and moral theologian Kevin T. Kelly, have all argued that to address the AIDS crisis that society must also address poverty and the low status of women.[95] Their arguments, along with others published in Catholic Ethicists on HIV/AIDS Prevention, examined the issue of HIV/AIDS in the context of social justice considerations.[62][96]

In 1989, the United States Bishops Conference said AIDS was "not only a biomedical phenomenon but a social reality rooted in human" behaviors that are "shaped by larger cultural and social structures."[97] Their argument that social factors played a role in the spread of the pandemic was similar to those being made by lefist AIDS theorists that at least part of the issue was historic political and social oppression and marginalization of infected populations.[97] The said several social factors, including changing sexual mores, economic poverty, and the drug use that often accompanies it, were driving causes of the epidemic.[98] They said to ignore these issues when addressing AIDS was not only intellectually dishonest but also unfair to those in risk-prone populations.[98]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ For the full text of the letter, see: On "The Many Faces of AIDS". See also Karol Wojtyla's Love and Responsibility
  2. ^ Saint Clare's Hospital was the first hospital to provide care in New York.[66]

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Works cited

Catholics for AIDS Prevention and Support http://www.caps-uk.org/ a UK based Charity 'Positive Catholics' http://www.positivecatholics.com/ a catholic community of support for people living with HIV

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