WORLD BRIEFING / BRITAIN
The Lancet medical journal accused Pope Benedict XVI of distorting scientific evidence in his statement that condoms worsen the AIDS crisis. It said he should retract the comments.
During a trip to Africa last week, the pope told reporters, “You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms.” He then added, “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”
In the latest issue of the prestigious British medical journal, the editors wrote that the pope “publicly distorted scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine on this issue.”
The Vatican has said the pope was expressing a long-standing Vatican position and that he wanted to stress that a reliance on condoms distracted from the need for proper education in sexual conduct.
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