Responsible religious leaders know that stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS has to be a top priority of the world community. Efforts on the part of religious conservatives to halt funding and support for family planning and disease prevention efforts are not just ill-advised - they are immoral.
Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice, said this week:
As we mark the one year anniversary of Benedict XVI's papacy, the Vatican has floated a welcome trial balloon suggesting that it will revisit its ban on condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Last week, the Condoms4Life campaign welcomed the news that another prominent cardinal had come forward to make a stand in support of the culture of life. Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini joined a growing chorus of voices within the church suggesting that for couples where one partner has HIV/AIDS, the use of condoms is "a lesser evil." Now we hear that the pope himself has commissioned the Council on Health Care to study this issue in the interest in changing it long-contentious stand against the use of condoms, even to prevent the spread of disease.
Condoms4Life would celebrate a positive and life-affirming shift in the Vatican position on condoms. There are certainly theological grounds under which the Vatican can approve the use of condoms, especially in the interest of stemming the spread of HIV/AIDS. Give the high stakes of failing to take such action, we can only urge the Vatican to move swiftly and surely in the interest of the lives and well-being of Catholics and non-Catholics around the world whose physical health has been jeopardized by the existing ban. Every day the position is unchanged, men, women and children are needlessly infected and die.
We ask that Benedict XVI show courage, compassion and vision and that he lift this ban against condoms as a step to promote a true culture of life.
The world needs leadership on this issue from all corners and the United States also needs legislation that supports responsible sex education. This is one of those issues where appropriate and moral leadership can start saving lives.