Harvard AIDS-Prev. Director: "Pope's Correct"

March 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, has said that the evidence confirms that the Pope is correct in his assessment that condom distribution exacerbates the problem of AIDS. "The pope is correct," Green told National Review Online Wednesday, "or put it a better way, the best evidence we have supports the pope's comments."

"There is," Green added, "a consistent association shown by our best studies, including the U.S.-funded 'Demographic Health Surveys,' between greater availability and use of condoms and higher (not lower) HIV-infection rates. This may be due in part to a phenomenon known as risk compensation, meaning that when one uses a risk-reduction 'technology' such as condoms, one often loses the benefit (reduction in risk) by 'compensating' or taking greater chances than one would take without the risk-reduction technology."

Pope Benedict knows what's up.

Vatican: Give Up Texting...Your Car...Etc

ROME - Roman Catholic bishops in Italy are urging the faithful to go on a high-tech fast for Lent, switching off modern appliances from cars to iPods and abstaining from surfing the Web or text messaging until Easter.

The suggestion goes far beyond no-meat Fridays, giving a modern twist to traditional forms of abstinence in the five-week period Christians set aside for fasting and prayer ahead of Easter.

And it shows the Church's increasing focus on technology's uses — with many of the Lenten appeals posted on various dioceses' Web sites. - Yahoo!

Sorry, Vatican, but I don't think this is a good idea. I agree with Angelo Dente, who said, "I have to decide how to experience the Lent period. I should give up something if I really feel it, not because the Church says so."

Intelligent Design a "Cultural Phenomenon"

The Vatican has admitted that Charles Darwin was on the right track when he claimed that Man descended from apes.

A leading official declared yesterday that Darwin’s theory of evolution was compatible with Christian faith, and could even be traced to St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas. “In fact, what we mean by evolution is the world as created by God,” said Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture. The Vatican also dealt the final blow to speculation that Pope Benedict XVI might be prepared to endorse the theory of Intelligent Design, whose advocates credit a “higher power” for the complexities of life.

Organisers of a papal-backed conference next month marking the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species said that at first it had even been proposed to ban Intelligent Design from the event, as “poor theology and poor science”. Intelligent Design would be discussed at the fringes of the conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University, but merely as a “cultural phenomenon”, rather than a scientific or theological issue, organisers said. - Times Online

This will make many people very happy.

Pope Benedict Supports Jews

Pope Benedict's decision to lift the excommunication of four ultra-traditionalist bishops, including one who has denied the Holocaust, has angered many Jews and Catholics who say the bishops represent repressive and anti-Semitic currents in Catholicism that they want the pope to now explicitly repudiate.

Church officials have been scrambling to downplay the decision announced over the weekend and portray it as a first step in ending the only formal schism in modern Catholicism. But Jewish leaders said the move threatens decades of interfaith dialogue and could harm plans for Benedict's planned trip to the Holy Land later this year. The dispute adds to growing concerns among leaders of other faiths about Benedict's view of interfaith cooperation.

This morning, Benedict made his first public comments on the controversy, telling pilgrims in his weekly audience in Vatican City that he feels "full and indisputable" solidarity with Jews and repudiating the idea of denying the Holocaust. - Washington Post

Good job, Pope.

Galileo Upgraded to Hero Status

The Vatican is recasting the most famous victim of its Inquisition as a man of faith, just in time for the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s telescope and the U.N.-designated International Year of Astronomy next year.

Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to the Italian astronomer and physicist recently, saying he and other scientists had helped the faithful better understand and “contemplate with gratitude the Lord’s works.”

In May, several Vatican officials will participate in an international conference to re-examine the Galileo affair, and top Vatican officials are now saying Galileo should be named the “patron” of the dialogue between faith and reason.

It’s quite a reversal of fortune for Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), who made the first complete astronomical telescope and used it to gather evidence that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe. - Macon.com

Poor Galileo.

Vatican Opposes Gay Discrimination

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 2, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Contrary to the way the media paints the picture, the Holy See is against the discrimination of homosexuals, clarified a Vatican spokesman.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said this in response to Italian press reports on an interview with Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations. The archbishop told a news agency that the Holy See would not support an expected French proposal for a U.N. resolution to decriminalize homosexuality. The prelate explained that the initiative could include at the same time the imposition of homosexual marriage in national law...

"The well-known principles of respect for the fundamental rights of the person and the rejection of all unjust discrimination -- recognized clearly by the Catechism of the Catholic Church itself -- evidently exclude not only the death penalty, but all violent or discriminatory penal legislations in relation to homosexuals," the spokesman stated.

Just for clarification.

Vatican Forgives Lennon's Remark

"The remark by John Lennon, which triggered deep indignation mainly in the United States, after many years sounds only like a 'boast' by a young working-class Englishman faced with unexpected success, after growing up in the legend of Elvis and rock and roll," Vatican daily Osservatore Romano said.

The article, marking the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' The White Album, went on to praise the pop band.

"The fact remains that 38 years after breaking up, the songs of the Lennon-McCartney brand have shown an extraordinary resistance to the passage of time, becoming a source of inspiration for more than one generation of pop musicians," it said.

Lennon was murdered in New York in 1980. - Yahoo!

Thanks to Chris, who explained to me a few years ago what Lennon meant. Rock music isn't the devil.

Pope Advises Against Road Rage

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 18, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is encouraging Christians to make an examination of consciences regarding their conduct behind the wheel.

The Pope spoke of traffic accidents Sunday in his reflection before praying the midday Angelus with crowds who had gathered at the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

He called numerous driving accidents "another prayer intention."

"Human life is too precious and it is too unworthy of man to meet death or become an invalid due to causes that could mostly be avoided," the Holy Father said. "There is certainly a need for a greater sense of responsibility, above all by drivers, as accidents are often caused by excessive speed and imprudent conduct."

Thank you for stating the obvious, Your Holiness.