Clarification about a Vatican Document

[Nikazu]

Help!

In one of my classes today, a girl presented a topic for an upcoming speech. In it, she told us that she was going to point out how a Vatican document had lied about the effectiveness of condoms to Africans.

This, she said, was terrible, as it was a lie, and a lie to people who could be kept away from this terrible disease if they used condoms.

I’m sure someone has heard this argument before. The girl didn’t even name the document, so i don’t know where I can go to find out about it and see if it actually exists. Is there anyone on here that can help me with this?

 

[jaz1976]

I dont remember ever comming across a Vatican document claiming condems are ineffective. Their effectiveness has nothing to do with the fact that contraception is and always has been against the clear and infallible teachings of the Church.

I would like to read the “strawman” this girl is speaking of.

 

[Nikazu]

jaz1976:

I dont remember ever comming across a Vatican document claiming condems are ineffective. Their effectiveness has nothing to do with the fact that contraception is and always has been against the clear and infallible teachings of the Church.

I would like to read the “strawman” this girl is speaking of.

As would I. The problem is, she just said “A Vatican document”. Now, I don’t know it thats some secretarial scribblings or something authoritative. I was hoping one of you vatican watchers could help me!

 

[tuopaolo]

Nikazu,

First keep in mind what Pope Benedict XVI as Cardinal Ratzinger quoted in agreement:

“To seek a solution to the problem of infection by promoting the use of prophylactics would be to embark on a way not only insufficiently reliable from the technical point of view, but also and above all, unacceptable from the moral aspect.”

newadvent.org/library/docs_df88ai.htm

Second, she may be thinking of this document the relevant portions of which I link to below:

The Concern of some Moralists Raised by Studies Indicating that Condoms might not Provide Total Protection against the Transmission of HIV and STD’s

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/family/documents/rc_pc_family_doc_20031201_family-values-safe-sex-trujillo_en.html#ConcernMoralists

**The Same Concern, from non-Ecclesiastical Circles **

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/family/documents/rc_pc_family_doc_20031201_family-values-safe-sex-trujillo_en.html#ConcernNonChurch

The Workshop Summary: Scientific Evidence on Condom Effectiveness for Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Prevention

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/family/documents/rc_pc_family_doc_20031201_family-values-safe-sex-trujillo_en.html#WorkshopSummary

Condom Failure and its Latex Material

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/family/documents/rc_pc_family_doc_20031201_family-values-safe-sex-trujillo_en.html#Latex

If you read all these sections, or better the whole document, you’ll find the overwhelming mathematical and scientific evidence that shows that using condoms to prevent one’s self from contracting an STD from strictly the technical point of view is playing Russian roulette. Here’s one eye-opening excerpt:

“In their article, Fitch et al emphasize that the cumulative risk factor is very significant. “For example, an intervention that is 99.8% effective for a single episode of intercourse can yield an 18% cumulative failure rate with 100 exposures.”[38] Likewise, based on an International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) article, “the risk of contracting AIDS during so-called ‘protected sex’ approaches 100 percent as the number of episodes of sexual intercourse increases”.[39] IPPF is an institution promoting all forms of “birth control”.”

These data can easily be verified with a simple calculator:

1-(.998^100)=.18143…

or a little over 18%

The “approaches 100 percent” datum can also easily be proved mathematically.

 

[Fidei_Defensor]

Condoms are ineffective against certain types of infections. STDs such as the Human Papiloma Virus (HPV) are SKIN CONTACT diseases; this means that although you are wearing a condom, certain portions of your erogenous zones are still left exposed, thus allowing for infections such as HPV, lice, and syphilis to be spread despite the use of condoms.

 

[RobbyS]

jaz1976:

I dont remember ever comming across a Vatican document claiming condems are ineffective. Their effectiveness has nothing to do with the fact that contraception is and always has been against the clear and infallible teachings of the Church.

I would like to read the “strawman” this girl is speaking of.

Condums are ineffective unless they are used. Only in places like Uganda where they are used in combination with progoganda aimed at changing the practice of multiple partners are they effective in controlling AIDS. Most of the agencies who are distributing condoms are concerned mainly to limit births. (We should never forget that condoms were first invented to prevent whores from getting pregnant.) They are mainly interested in distributing birth control devises and birth control literature. It was the Church, by the way, which has bourne the blunt of meical care in Africa and which put pressure on the drug companies to develop generic drugs to ease the suffering of the people.