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VATICAN, December 3, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Fanatic condemnations of the Vatican’s pro-life stand against contraception are expected from pro-abortion groups such as ‘Catholics for a Free Choice’ however, today the President of the international council of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) accused the Vatican of spreading AIDS.  “By not supporting the use of condoms and not advocating the use of condoms as one of the preventative measures, I would say that the Catholic Church is helping the spread of a deadly disease,” said the group’s president Morten Rostrup.  The comments come after the Vatican released a five page document marking World Aids Day November 30.  The document signed by Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care invited the international community and governments in general, and the Church in particular, to fight the dreaded disease with policies which respect human dignity.  “Promote campaigns to sensitize and educate people (about HIV/AIDS) – based not on policies which feed immoral and hedonistic ways of life, which in turn favor the spread of the evil, but instead based on those reliable criteria and authentic human and spiritual values on which one can base a relevant education of prevention, one in favor of the culture of life and of responsible love. In this way the virtue of chastity is manifested as the most important and effective prevention in fighting HIV/AIDS,” said the document.  Rostrup told Reuters, “condoms are one of the best ways of preventing the disease. We are surely not opposed to behavioral changes. But to advocate against the use of condoms as a preventative measure … is totally unacceptable from a moral, ethical and medical perspective.”  However scientific evidence has shown that condoms do not offer sure protection against the AIDS virus.  Therefore many researchers and sociologists have argued that condoms thus give users a false sense of security, increasing their risky behavior and their susceptibility to the disease.  A study published in The Lancet in January 2000 showed that “vigorous condom-promotion policy could increase rather than decrease unprotected sexual exposure if it has the unintended effect of encouraging greater sexual activity.” John Richens, John Imrie and Andrew Copas of the University College London wrote “it is hard to show that condom promotion has had any effect on HIV epidemics.”  The authors warned “increased condom use will increase the number of transmissions that result from condom failure” and could negatively affect “decisions of individuals to switch from inherently safer strategies of partner selection or fewer partners to the riskier strategy of developing or maintaining higher rates of partner change plus reliance on condoms.”  See the Reuters coverage and the Vatican’s statement (in Italian):  https://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=3924475§ion=news https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/hlthwork/documents/rc_pc_hlthwork_doc_20031130_barragan-aids_it.html   See also LifeSite reprint of 1993 letter from C.M. Roland, Editor of Rubber Chemistry and Technology, Washington, D.C., (printed in Reality, 1996) indicating that natural defects in latex condoms make them unreliable for preventing AIDS https://www.lifesitenews.com/features/samesexunions/condomproblem.htm