Pope-in' Ain't Easy--Pope Benedict XVI is against rubbers and reality

Now, of course, I realize that it's an affront to Catholics to see the image of the Pope used in such a deliberately cheeky fashion. My first husband, an only semi-lapsed Catholic, used to occasionally look up at the sky when I said something particularly blaspemous, as if expecting a thunderbolt. My second husband, a "recovered Catholic" (AKA "atheist") does the same thing. As for myself, I find my gaze diverted skyward temporarily when I hear something that violates science and reason--

It's called "rolling my eyes."

It should also be an affront to people of good sense to hear the pontif pontificating to the effect that condoms increase the problem of AIDS. It's affront because it isn't so. It's been common knowledge for years--decades! That condoms prevent STD's. It's an actual fact that has been publicized by the US government, by people in the sex industry (like, who should know, amirite? Although sadly, not everybody is down with the message yet --it's not enough to just know your status, guys and gals), and even concerned members of the Catholic clergy who realized that abstinence doesn't happen in real life. Not always.

There may be something to the idea that one shouldn't believe that just because they have a condom, they can do whatever and whoever they want. But people don't do that anyway. AIDS in Africa is a major killer of heterosexuals in a society that is actually not prone to female profligacy. Also, if he wants to talk culture of life--let's talk about that.

Is it supportive of life to let people knowingly or unknowingly spread a deadly virus that could kill their partner? Or would that be more like murder? Is it moral that one should stand in the way of not only decreasing the spread of the disease, but preventing the births of children who are liable to live short, painful lives because of it?

Now, because of our good medical progress and medical access in the West, a person with HIV can live a pretty decent life if they have the right treatment. We don't think of it like a death sentence anymore. But that isn't the way it is, there. The disease leaves orphans and incomplete families in its wake. A blanket statement that condoms could make the problem worse is worse than mere opinion--it just advises people to morally eschew one effective solution, but in its place lets them fail, fatally, when they succumb to human nature. A mistake. A lovers' deception. It doesn't just strike me as factually wrong, but morally wrong.

Now, that could just be a difference of opinion. But no one calls Vixen Strangely "infallible" or listens to her every word. Many people listen to the Pope, even this one, whose track record involves un-excommunicating a Holocaust denier (ah, but they didn't have all the facts--right?) and a row about a 9-yr old child's abortion--which likely saved her precious little life. This guy is kind of new to the pope-ing gig, but he's making "infallible" look bad. Thus, an inappropriate picture.

And no, I never have been struck by lightning. (Then again, I've always said nice things about Thor....)