The resent visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Africa had the most predictable outcome. He directly had to address his beliefs on the population planning and control methods promoted by the NGOs and the United Nations in Africa. The NGOs working with AIDS victims in Africa disagreed with the Pope on the efficacy of condoms in the control of AIDS. I was looking ahead as to how this would roll out.
The Catholic Church’s views on life and its sustenance run contrary to the secular and liberal views on the same. Fr. Joseph Ratzinger’s elevation to Papacy has only made these discussions rigorous in the recent public domain. The Evangelical Christian and the Catholics together agree on a wide range of subjects on life and its sustenance. However, I have not heard nor read anything from the ‘silent middle’: the conventional Christians who occupy the middle portion of the faith spectrum scale. Most us feel that these are personal issues and need not be brought to public domain. Others feel that individual discretion is most appropriate in these matters.
The Evangelicals and the Catholics seem to tell a very simple point: the deep degradation of moral values and its effect on the social life of the masses cannot be negotiated with modern inventions and gadgets. Getting into the root of the problem is the only true solution. Effective control of AIDS through condoms looks very attractive. It is a simple, quick and a cost effective idea to the health fraternity. True, it is. Nevertheless, going a step further backward, by developing the right contact, by conducting a moral living, we achieve the best control.
The question is whether the risk-exposed communities around the world can hearken to the voice of faith or to philander with gadgets that will shield them in their immoral living.
Pope Benedict XVI will continue to champion the cause of faith and the French President’s wife will discontinue believing in the voice of the Pope. But the reality is, we continue to bump into an unchanging God everywhere... from the bed room to the board rooms of our living.
Jesus said, “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’” (Mathew 5:37).
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