Ugh.  I saw this in the paper on the way to work today and couldn't help but sigh, shrug my shoulders, and wonder when the reality of sexual health/disease prevention will enter in the minds of the Catholic Elite.

As you said, how irresponsible can an institution with so many loyal followers get?  Apparently, astonishingly irresponsible.

Suffice to say, this is probably another time when someone in the Vatican should have checked Google first...

Pope Benedict XVI is incorrect in his view of condoms and homosexuality. Furthermore, he has it backwards because condoms help prevent HIV/AIDS among gays/lesbians not, the other way around. Unfortunately, for the leader of a large church which is the Catholic Church, the pope needs to be more readily ignored because some of his comments are nonsense. Finally, the Catholic Church is also wrong for supporting feeble human rights regarding LGBT people.

As usual, I find myself agreeing with nearly all of what you are saying. There is however a statement that I do disagree with with: "This Pope deserves to isolated on the global scene." I feel that it isn't just the Pope who deserves to be isolated on the global scene, rather nearly the entire Catholic Church.

I know I'm probably going to be flamed for that comment, but hear me out. An organization that willingly and knowingly shuffles child-molesting priests from one parish to another deserves no respect whatsoever. Has the Catholic Church done some good in their days? Absolutely, but when their negatives are greater than or equal to the good, then it becomes a dire situation.

The "tenets" of their faith (or their beliefs) are constantly changing. The ONLY thing that doesn't change within their religion is the condemnation of those who don't believe in their way of thinking when it comes to reproduction health and private sexual matters....this goes for evangelicals as well. Yes, I know, people will say that it is easy for me to sit back and condemn these organizations because I am an Agnostic, but it is that Agnosticism that allows me to freely express myself and take a look at these organizations from the outside.

The Catholic Church has for the most part abandoned the belief of "Purgatory", they abandoned their belief in "buying" salvation - until recently (I guess we can all pay a large sum of money to be "saved" nowadays).

Religious texts are constantly being revised, reinterpreted, reevaluated, retranslated and rewritten to suit the needed belief of the day. In fact, the most recent revision came in 1976 (of course for the NKJV). Prior to that was 1969, 1946, 1932....the list goes on. Most of these "translations" that came from the original scripts contain many errors. Many words in the original languages have no translation to other languages and are therefore merely beliefs of what they feel the text "should" mean.

Anyway, as long as we have these archaic belief systems in place the longer people will continue to suffer, whether by verbal or physical assaults, at the hands of the religious "leaders" and their followers.

Sorry to sound so anti-religion, but I honestly get sick of these people telling me that I must adhere to their beliefs, yet fail to even look in the mirror and see the REAL harm they bring on others.

Thanks Michael, and Raymond ! This Pope, and/or whoever is actually creating these horrific fascist statements, is destroying the Catholic church.  

I think that most of religions are indeed out of date with the world reality. I also agree with this article when says that Catholic Church dogma is more important than human beings lives. For many centuries we have been watching "The Church"  (no matter which one is) as an institution fighting for power. Anything that goes against (any) church dogmas will be repelled even if this will cause human lives loss. Ask Galileo Galilei about questioning church dogmas...poor guy just tried to prove that the planet earth was round and the earth was not the center of the universe...he was chased until his death. It is weird thinking that those very same dogmas still exist and are enforced but they are. It is not just AIDS (a very serious global problem) that is growing with lack of use of condoms. Undesirable pregnancy and other diseases are growing at an alarming rate and Catholic church totally disagree with no "natural" methods for avoid pregnancy. The problem is who will be supporting all those kids born from an undesirable (teens) pregnancy? Who will help psychologically those young kids now mothers? Who will pay for those kids health care, education, etc?

Sometimes I would like to get all those abandoned kids left in orphanages or not so good/unhappy foster parents home and take them straight to the Vatican, stop at the door and say "Ok here we are...take good care of them"

It is very hard to believe in someone that is preaching for helping poor and needed people but live in a palace, surrounded by wall and guarded by its is own army. Do you want to start doing good things? Show some example by living like Madre Teresa or Gandhi...

The Pope is correct. The Pope is talking about a MORAL problem in our society, not a SEXUAL problem. If we cannot resolve our MORAL problems, how could we possibly resolve our SEXUAL ones? 

This article is completely biased and misinformed. You guys make this out to be black and white. Condoms prevent contact and therefore stop AIDS. Wrong.

If you think about it, his statement is completely justified. Many people who DO have AIDS/HIV/ ANY std for that matter are brainwashed into thinking that condoms can protect from HIV/AIDS (by YOU people). Condoms are never 100% safe and there is always a risk that an STD can be transferred, but, thinking that it is virtually harmless, more people (especially teenagers) are prone to use condoms thinking they are safe, when in reality there is risk. This aggravates the problem as more people will take the chance of spreading it using a condom when they think they are practicing "safe sex".

I don't know of anyone who is brainwashed into thinking that condoms are completely fail safe.  They're not.  But to deny that condoms don't prevent the spread of STDs a large percentage of the time?  That just seems like basic common sense.

I'd much prefer the Catholic Church to take the position of Bishop Kevin Dowling, a Catholic South African bishop in the thick of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa.  Bishop Dowling's words:

"The socio-economic and cultural realities mean the chance that we can have major success with behaviour modification is very, very small, even though we continue to try. I think the issue, then, comes down to: 'what is the best available means we have to protect life?' and at the moment it is only the condom...

It's in conflict with the official Catholic Church position, but I've reflected on this for many, many years and I truly feel that in the case of this hyper-epidemic, the issue is, in the end, very simple: preservation and protection of life."

Now that's prophetic leadership from a Catholic.

.... and if I may I will post from this article: IMPEACH THE POPE.
By Robert S. McElvaine
Professor of Arts & Letters, Millsaps College

Enough! No--Too much! Amid all the justified outrage we all feel at Bernie Madoff and the AIG bandits, let us save some intense outrage for Pope Benedict XVI. After insulting Muslims by declaring in 2006 that Muhammad had brought "things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached," after reiterating (through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) in 2008 that the subject of the ordination of women is not even open for discussion and declaring that anyone involved with the ordination of women will be automatically excommunicated, after lifting in January of this year the excommunication of Holocaust-denier Richard Williamson, now Benedict XVI opens a visit to Africa by telling the people of a continent decimated by AIDS that the distribution of condoms "increases the problem" of the spread of AIDS.

I am a Catholic and the idea that such a man is God's spokesperson on earth is absurd to me.
There are, of course, no provisions in the hierarchical institution set up, not by Jesus but by men who hijacked his name and in many cases perverted his teachings, for impeaching a pope and removing him from office. But there ought to be......  Misogyny may not be "the Church's one foundation," but it is a major part of the base on which it was constructed.

It should be obvious that the sin in an over-populated world is not attempting to control birth, but attempting to control birth control............... Let's start a movement within the Catholic Church to impeach Pope Benedict XVI and remove him from office. While we're at it, let's replace him with a woman.
Hey, I like that idea!

I agree that condoms are the best means for preventing STDs, but the fact stands that as the Pope he is seen as an icon of and an embassador for Roman Catholicism. Even if the pope knows that condoms help, he can't say that as he wouldn't be pope for much longer.

However if you look at it in my context it makes sense. If people have a possibility to have sex that otherwise wasn't there due to the possibility of spreading the disease, they'll take it. We're only humans. More people are going to be taking the condom route instead of abstaining (which is what we all know Catholics are all about). The Pope obviously does not want to convey the message that abstinance is optional. So he does not have much else he can say. I would not call the pope clueless or dangerous, nor do I see a point for why he should be isolated. I think your dismayal should be pointed at the Catholic Church in general. I am a Catholic but I do not always agree with everything in my faith. I also believe faith is mostly personal.

I believe we should all respect everyone's opinion. Talking about religion it is a very polemic subject, and it can be endless.

'Condoms aggravate the problem of HIV'
yes, they do, Im sure the pope has FACTUAL evidence and Im sure if you do some of your own research, you will find your own evidence, but your only response was 'No, they dont' oh, yea, thats really going to convince me of your point of view, right before you go on slandering his name without any counter evidence of your own. In fact, condoms have a 10% percent fail-rate, which give the people of Africa a false-sense of security when it comes to having more than one sex partner. If you have been doing any research of your own, you would have figured out that the pope's counter plan for HIV would be abstinence...which is 100% effective (and does not aggravate the problem of HIV).

Alex, condom failure is generally not the failure of the condom, it is that of the user. Many people don't know how to use them properly. Example, many people don't realize that you have to leave room in the tip for the semen to collect.

Your 10% failure rate also includes those who simply use condoms as their main means of barrier, but don't use them 100% of the time. Another common cause for failure is sabotage. Meaning people putting a pin hole in the tip as a means of "getting even" for being required to wear a condom.

You also seem to fail to realize that sex is NOT the only way HIV is transmitted.

I think the opinion given in this article is a bit harsh, because it does not give a strong enough basis or much supporting evidence. If you want people to agree with you about the issue, it might be helpful to give more facts that support your opinion. You would have been more effective (for me), if you would have included the information in your recent comment. Rather than putting off any Catholic readers, it makes you seem less like an angry guy who hates the Catholic church. I have linked below a very good article that shows the push-pull between Catholicism and the health/science community involving this particular subject.

http://www.condoms4life.org/facts/CondomsAndAIDS.htm

I think any logical human being will find that this is not an evil act being attempted by the Catholic community or the Pope, but rather, a fight against a false sense of security through condom use as a failsafe against all STDs. On the other hand, you will see that the health and science community believes that messages (such as the one given in the above article) are largely taken at face value and/or out of context and that this can be a set back for the lay community in use of contraceptives.

In my opinion, it would be helpful for the community of Catholic peoples to demand that the Pope explain his position more clearly and in greater detail. Given an explanation, lay people would have a better chance of seeing both the advantages and risk factors (those that will still apply) in condom use as a prevention for STDs such as HIV/AIDS.

When this pope was elected I said that in the end he would be responsible for more preventable deaths than Hitler.  This only confirms what I thought. 

Don't get me wrong, I am not comparing him to Hitler and think his intentions are good.  However, failure to use condoms in an AIDS ridden country will result in deaths by the million, and further infected, orphaned children by the million. 

As a bishop in Apostolic Succession, I know that not all the Catholic and Orthodox Churches agree about sacramental validity, and there is not a simple black and white answer to the validity of Anglicanism, for example in terms of sacraments administered.

That having been said, I have often stated that it was NOT so much papal infallibility but the universal episcopacy of the pope, that created the silence from the liberal Catholic periti (theologians with earned doctorates) that has occurred since John Paul II, and his second in command, and successor, the Fuhrerpapen Ratzinger.

As an ecclesial historian, I could spend paragraphs discussing two millenia of papal history. I have concentrated upon the end of the Papal States and the reunification of Italy and the simultaneous convening of the Vatican Council One...in 1869-70 where it was obvious that temporal power was lost, and spiritual power worldwide was obtained.

From 1870 to 1929, the Popes - Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI - were all " Prisoners of the Vatican. It was King Victor Emmanuel II and his prime minister dictator, Benito Mussolini, who signed the Lateran Treaty, creating the city-state of Vatican City. The secretary of state succeeded Pius XI and became Pius XII .

To the present - John XXIII - Paul VI - John Paul I - John Paul II and the Fuhrerpapen of today.

Every time that the Church has lost temporal power - such as loss of nationhood or the end of the Holy Roman Emperor at the end of WWI and the end of the Hapsburg dynasty. One could argue that their last hurrah was the death of Spain's Franco and the end of their official and only Christian presence in that nation.

American Catholics have, to my opinion, always been allowed their cafeteria approach to disciplines if not doctrines espoused by the Magisterium.

A liberal like John XXIII was succeeded by a centrist triangulator in Paul VI and a conservative like John Paul II ( John Paul I seemed to be a liberal) and now a uber-conservative.

Ratzinger presides over a Roman Catholicism where the largest archdiocese on the planet is the Archdiocese of Mexico, DF. In fact, Mexico, Central and South America is where the largest group of observant Catholics live.

For the first time, however, the Protestant fundamentalists have made substantial inroads in those countries. How? Simple....they realised that the hierarchy is usually a sibling of the Power Elite and the peasant priests are left penniless and powerless to affect change and build infrastructure they need.

To meet that void, American fundamentalists are now missionaries to convert these nations FROM ROMAN CATHOLICISM. Physicians, nurses - loaded down with medical supplies and expertise - flood these nations. ( In the USA, we see "9 to 5 RC priests" who do nothing as countless immigrants are becoming AG, SBC and other Protestant denominational members.)

Youngsters go on vacations to these nations to help them in Christian endeavours....feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and teaching the ignorant.

Africa is the second largest Catholic area. The majority of the continent is Muslim....yet the British brought Anglicanism and Methodism and the French and Belgians and Portuguese colonists brought Roman Catholicism.

Ditto what I said about South America PLUS. The Anglicans and Catholics in Africa are uberconservative and their views mirror the Muslim codes for fear of losing them to Islam.

Follow the money.....follow the strategy......forget the theology, for it mirrors the two other considerations.

Of course abstinence is 100% effective in preventing sexually transmitted disease.  It reminds me of my granddad's idea to defeat the Japanese navy during World War II:  Drill a hole 2 to 3 feet in diameter in the bottom of each of their ships!  It will be 100% effective as soon as we figure out how to make it happen.

This is very good news for pedophiles. The ringleader of the worse large-scale child-abuse scene in modern history wants to babble about global health issues. His ideas continue to be dangerous, Taliban-like, and thoroughly absurd. It is so sad that the numbers of the deceased grow so much greater, due to delusional perpetrators of cultism and mental illness. Rev. Bookburn - Radio Volta

It's quite sad to read some of the comments that actually support even by abstention the statements of the Pope.  A little critical thinking and common sense will quickly lead a person to the answer.

 A.  People are going to have sex.  It doesn't matter if they have condoms available or not, and it doesn't matter how many times they are told its "Sinful."  They are going to do it.  Because "Sin" is a fantasy created by cretins like the Pope to control people and their actions.  And from the population of the prison's in this country is any indication.  'Sin' is not a deciding factor in most peoples lives or thought process.  At least not until after the fact.

B. Yes.  Abstinence is 100% effective.  IF!!  and that is a big IF!!  If people completely refrain from human contact of any kind.  Frenching, though of a lower likelihood can spread HIV.  Blood/Fluid contact with open sores is also pretty effective in transmitting HIV.

C.  Though not 100%.  Give A & B above, condom use is the ONLY!!  That's right, the ONLY! thing that has proven to be able to minimize the change of transmission, reduce unwanted pregnancy, and is the only thing that you can get people to do willingly.  It doesn't require recrimination about 'Sin', it doesn't require criminalization of any human activities.  It's only requirement to be effective is education and availability.

If any of you actually think a moment about the direction HIV infection rates was headed in Africa and the US for that matter before the Church stuck its nose into things.  The rates were on the steep decline.  Then the Church and it's "Abstinence Only" stupidity stepped in and bang.  The infection rates jumped through the roof.

There is no better test bed for that then the US itself.  In states with "Just say No" sex ed.  Teen pregnancy, abortion, and STD rates are the highest in the nation.  In states with preventive sex ed.  That being Condom use, where to get help, what happens when you don't protect yourself.  Those states have the lowest levels of Teen Pregnancy, Abortion, and STD rates among the entire population.

You also find these states to be far more tolerant and of a higher moral fiber then those that go with 'just say no.'  States like Massachusetts.

You'll also find that they are the least religious in their overall make up.  Meaning they pay less attention to what some preacher is telling them what is moral and instead actually thinking about it and deciding what really is moral.

Before someone jumps all over me for that comment.  Do me and yourself a favor, and answer these questions first, and don't worry, you can find the answers in the Bible.

1. How much should I charge to sell my daughter into slavery?
2. My Friend works on Sunday (The Sabbath), do I have to stone him myself, or should I have the whole town do it?
3. My brother back-talks our parents and won't do what he's told.  Should he be stoned right then and there, or should we take in outside of town so everyone can get in on the action?

If you can answer these honestly and claim them to be moral actions that the rest of the world would agree to be moral.  Then you can criticize me.  If you can't relegate these to be moral things.  Perhaps you should re-evaluate what you think is moral.  The bible, it's preachers, and the POPE are some of the least moral things on this planet.

The Pope is out of touch with the Catholic people and had NOTHING of use to say the people of Africa. He should've saved the trip and sent a youtube video.

But computers are evil and the work of the devil becasue a computer gives you access to information which leads to knowledge and understanding.  Which is the anti-thesis of religion in general. 

Religion = Ignorance = the unneccesary death of millions of people

Even though I don't believe Benedict XVI is the head of the true Catholic Church he makes the argument that condoms aren't the answer to controlling HIV/AIDS.

The only answer in controlling HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases, is for people to stop having sex with multiple partners. The Church then is right in teaching that monogmy is the way to avoid sexually-contracted HIV/AIDS. Condoms wouldn't be needed if people did not have sex without anyone except the one person they married.

Pope John Paul II made a similar statement at the teen summit in Denver, CO, in 1995 or 1996. (I apologize for not remembering the exact year)  I stood with my mouth gaping at the t.v..  I was 21 years old, raised Catholic, and I remember saying, "I'm outta here."  I haven't looked back. 

Organized religion, to me, serves to keep people living in fear & chaos, it offers very little in the way of actual comfort or education.  Especially in the case of the catholic church, it doesn't keep up with the changing times.  Maybe 2000 years ago people would believe this drivel & stop having sex, but now people are too smart.  The church is losing it's grip.

May God continue to bless the Pope and give him strength and wisdom to prevail in the storm of relative logic and morality...His statement on condoms erroneously assumes an intelligence and common sense  in that he knows, and assumes others will as well, that condom use leads to relaxed and unatural and abusive engagement in intercourse. Which in turn leads to the attitude of rejection of the primary purpose of intercourse between a male and female,.which is pro creation.To suggest that the Pope is out of touch...of course he is out of touch with relativistic morality. He is an advocate of the truth of human nature and the purpose of life..The bable of many only leads to the obvious confusion and anxiety of humanistic  philosophy.../ Get humble and ask for the Grace to know who you are and why you are here.Access to information does not guarantee or lead to wisdom, technological advance can be made in science, technology and communication, but human nature continues on its basic and destinied  journey..  

Every church and every religion is messed up.  It doesn't matter if it comes from the West, the East or the Middle East.

It sucks that the Catholic church can have such backwards views, when they support Fair Trade and other great causes inmensely.

It's not a perfect institution, and the leaders are not perfect either, they're just people like all of us.

It appears that in short and rapid order, some reactionary Roman Catholics came to defend the Holy See and Ratzinger in particular.

As a gay affirming Christian in a mainline faith community, I find more answers in the English Reformation and in the Enlightenment, and curiously enough, in Eastern Christianity, than I do in the current papal administration and the previous one as well. The Roman Catholic Church from 1958 to 1978 had the promise that Orthodox economy and kindness brings to dogma and doctrine.

The pope is right, stop having sex and do as the Catholic Church priests do, start molesting young boys! This seems to be the more preferred behavior.

Emotion  and error fill the vacuum of ignorance.

Hate fear and ignorance are overwhelming this discussion.
where is enlightment?instruct us in the causes if AIDS/hIV.direct us in the best direction  and actions to prevent the spread of this curse..Come on get off the the ignorant hate  !and don't lie to try to make a point.
If A is equal to B and B is equal to C then A is equal to C

With respect Bishop, By what authority did you  instruct/teach your flock?

This makes me extremley angry as on of the stops on his trip has been Cameroon where I have been involved in an HIV/AIDS prevention project which can easily go about 5 years backwards overnight with these comments that have ABSOLUTLY no scientific backing and are completly false.  Just when we were starting to make headway in the fight against AIDS in Africa he had to pull religion out and provide false and conlicting information. Please tell me why he is so entitled because I dont understand why he thinks he has the right to just waltz right in and riun all of our hard work and essentially make the crisis worse

60% catholic there., How insane is it to have a man in a white dress tell everyone the safety is not as important his idea of what should go on in their bedroom. How arrogant the catholic religion is.

I think distributing Condoms is the one thing we can all agree on regardless of what religion we are.

perhaps condoms do make the HIV/AIDS problem worse. it is fairly plain how condoms may encourage people to have more sex, or at least encourage people to transcend sexual norms in their society. any new introduction of a powerful cultural artifact or meme, may complexify certian existing interactions; and with these complexifications, the interactions will be complexified, complexly.

Thanks for the histoy lesson, but by what authority did you administer to your flock.. You stated Luther etc. transfered that auhority to the Bible..
Many of the comments  from some other people would find campanion with the crowd who cried "give us Barabus!'

What happened to open exchange of ideas?Am I mistaken(ignorant) of the proposition that bishops are given authority through succession and laying of hands by other bishops?Read my reply carefully, my Barabus comment related to some of the other emotionally charged comments and not to any of yours.If you are offended I apologize to you..

"MR. Curran.  There can be no exchange of idea's when the person on the recieving end already has a conclusion and will reject all information that conflicts with that conclusion.  That's you by the way.  As happens so often with people of a strong 'Faith' background.  You will not accept any informaion Bishop Sawyer, I, or anyone else will say to you, if that information doesn't agree with the conclusion you have already come to.  It is sad, because from your writting, you would seem to be a fairly intelligent person.  Yet you use that intelligence in defence of the indefencible.  You need to join the rest of us in Reality. 

In reality, not having sex is the best defense against everything from pregnancy to STD's.  However, here in reality, we know that is not practical.  We therefore must take the needed steps to minimize our risk, no matter who your prefered partner is.

Now Mr. Hahn.  Condom's and education can in no way outside of some insane religious dogma, be construed to drive people to as you put it, "transcend sexual norms in their society."  Then again such non-normal behavior as you would refer is only non-normal due to fear bread by ignorance and the demands of religion to control the lives and thoughts of its follower.

Before you go putting words in my mouth, let me state that I refer to normal human behaviors of sex between consenting adults.  Get over it.

Mr. Curran - at this point, it is very clear that information and awareness and the ability to learn these issues easily on the worldwide web, suggests that regardless of information that I provide to you, you are here to defend reactionary Romanism, and I for one, am unwilling to engage with you further.

You can define my response as negatively as I believe you are going to do.         Bishop Sawyer.

I don't define yor responses one way or the other.. I am simply trying to understand the details of any attack.

It's not an attack.  It is an obviously failed attempt to bring reality and history into context with the statements of the Pope.  When I refer to reality.  I refer to the world we all live in.  You know.  The one where sex is fun and feels good, and where, save for actual threat of physical violence, people are going to do it.  No matter the amount of threatening of eternal torture after death by an old closet case in a white dress.  People are going to have sex.  That's just a fact of life. 

The concept of celibacy forced upon clergy by the church is ludicrous and proves the lack of understanding of what it is to be human.  It is a direct and forceful agent in any clergy sex scandal.  Despite what your preacher may have told you.  It has nothing to do with those clergy being gay, the fact is.  Most pedophiles are not gay, and instead have a mental defect that can be directly correlated with the suppression of sexual feelings, emotions, and activity.  Priests diddling alter boys is almost a self fulfilling prophecy. 

Back to reality and a few more points.  Yes, in reality, abstinence is the most effective thing.  Yet in reality it is not practical, nor as simple as things as it is to say it.  In reality, where the supernatural doesn't exist.  Where evidence rules and where claims of divinity and talking to god are usually treated with heavy doses of sedatives. 

The only effective thing.  The only thing that has been shown to have any effect what so ever on peoples habits is education.  The only thing that has been shown to be effective is condom use, because with or without them.  People are going to have sex, and they're probably going to do it with lots of people.

The reality is this.  You teach people to use condoms, and they have sex with 10 people.  They use it 5 times, 1/2 the time.  That's 5 less infections.  Now continue with the education of the consequences of not, as well as the fact that non users will begin to become ill and marginalized.  The next group will have sex with 10 and use it 8 times.  Very soon the non-users become outcast and the diseases are nearly eliminated.

That is reality.  That is why the Popes statements are so insane and damaging.  That is why placing faith or any weight in the teachings of someone that completely ignores facts and evidence is such a bad thing.

And if you just can't understand that Mr. Curran.  There is nothing more I or anyone else can say to you to help until you are willing to listen and examine evidence that may not agree with your constrained little worldview.

OOPS, NO DIRECT OFFENSE TO MR. CURRAN........OUCH

I while do think that condoms are effective in preventing the transmission of HIV/AIDS, I also think there is some truth in his statement about the AIDS "cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems." 

If we are haphazardly handing out condoms without teaching people how to properly use them then we are creating a situation where condoms could aggravate the problem of AIDS.  Yes, condoms can be highly effective IF USED PROPERLY.  Without proper educational programs, condoms can and will be used ineffectively.  Thus people may become infected with HIV due to them unknowingly using them wrong.

I am not agreeing with the Pope by any means, but I do believe that there is some truth to the statement he made.  

the Vatican should close shop and melt its gold and give the proceeds back to south america where it was pillaged in first place.  quit preaching.  this is year 2009...some day.

meanwhile...quit being preached to and go live your one life.  to expect to live to 90 and only have one partner is ludicrous.  use condoms every time!  not only will you be safer but we'll have less humans.  this would help solve so many problems on our 4+BILLION year old mother earth.

My curosity about the reactionary response to my first message was satisfied by later comments and espoused positions.Reality with no spirituality? that is in direct opposition to the                                                      definition of human nature: body and spirit(soul).
No purpose of being here only by  accidential animalastic propigation? How disturbing! celibacy forced on clergy? That's right these mern are kidnapped an dragged into the priest hood..  Sex? What is your animalistic defination of sex?Wait until we get the science to develop a probe to the pleasure sensor in the brain and the there will be no need to have 10 encounters.I have been married to the same one for 54 years.. What to the same woman? NO we are both not he same people we were 54 years ago, we have grown tbhrough a shared life together with purpose and gratefulness to have a wonder ful family.. If education alone is the force to chgange human actions then why do educated? people act un-naturally?                                                                          

Walter,

My sincerest congratulations to you and your wife of 54 years.

My partner and I met when I was in the Navy and he in the Marines. He was my one and only partner (long-term OR sexual). We were together for 13 years before he was killed by a drunk driver in a head-on car collision nearly 5 years ago. Contrary to what your apparent preconcieved notions of who gay people are, not all of us are promiscuous. Have I dated since then? Of course. Have I slept with those I dated? No. Why? Because I haven't found someone I feel comfortable sharing the rest of my life with at this point. Do I hope that I find that person? Absolutely. Is it necessary? No. Having found the love of my life, I can say that I have lived a happy life in general. No I am NOT comparing my partner and I's relationship to that of you and your wife, but I also wouldn't compare out relationship with anyone else's because ALL relationships are different.

My partner and I owned a home together (we were both on the deed). We both had life insurance policies naming each other as the beneficiaries with our parents as our secondary beneficiary. We both had living wills and medical powers of attorney. He was considered brain dead, but I kept his parents in the loop. His mother wanted me to keep him on life support until she was able to fly out. She was able to say her goodbye's etc. and I finally had to have him removed from life support. That's when the problems began.

His mother filed a lawsuit in federal court from her home state challenging his will. To make a long story short, the judge ordered me to either buy his mother out (for his half of the house) or sell it and give her half the proceeds. The life insurance policy that he left me; instead of going toward paying off the house, was used up defending myself against his mother in the courts. Could I have appealed the judges findings? Absolutely, but at what cost? I was broke at that point, homeless, and simply exhausted. I didn't even have time to grieve his loss before being slapped with a lawsuit.

We had a LEGALLY registered "Domestic Partnership". But that obviously wasn't enough to have an "activist judge" rule against me. It is for THIS reason that separate but "equal" is inherently UNEQUAL when it comes to civil marriage.

This is a part of my life that i rarely share with anyone because it is still to this day a very painful to discuss and even now is difficult to finish this post, but I'm doing it nonetheless.

It is a sad day in this nation when ANY group continues to be denied equal treatment under the law that we are all "guaranteed" in the United States Constitution.

I will close with one of my favorite quotes from MLK Jr. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Dave,

Great! Great! Great! Post, thanks for sharing.

Dave, you are obviously a caring, honest and courageous, man...my condolences and prayers to you for the losss of your companion..
I do not prejudge anyone, "each man has his burdens to bear"My Churcgh and Faiklt have served me well in over 83 yars...not perfect but providing solice and meaning to many of life's challanges...We lost a son in Dalls at 17 years old,,never forgotten..stay well and keep the Faith

"Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."

-      Thomas Jefferson

A quote that so eloquently states my beliefs and the beliefs of one of our founding fathers.