The Trouble with The Pope....

Okay so we all know the story by now: Pope Benedict XVI went to Africa, and told the thousands of people that went to go see him that 'condoms don't help stop the spread of HIV, on the contrary, they only worsen the problem.' I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point: the Pope flat out said that condoms make AIDS worse.

What the hell.

You don't have to be a scientist to know that this is a completely false statement: condoms do not, in fact, make the spread of AIDS worse. Out of all the studies done, there have been no findings to support this idea . Every scientist on earth can attest to the fact that condoms help to NOT spread AIDS. Hell, everyday people could tell you that condoms help prevent AIDS. But apparently, the Pope didn't get the memo.

Now I understand that the Catholic Church has been against any form of birth control from the get-go. It's just something that you don't do if you're Catholic. Period. Its a sacred rule that's been around for 2000 years, and its probably not going to change any time soon. Why? Because the Catholic Church is terrified of change of any kind. Their religion is built upon a set of rules that were made up a very, very, VERY long time ago, and even the idea of tweaking a few of those standards to fit a modern 21st century life style sends them into paralyzing fear. The Catholics are all for pro-creation, which is why 'every sperm is sacred' in their eyes, and everything from the pill to condoms is looked down upon.

Now like I said, I understand all of this. There is no question in my mind that pertains to why the Catholics don't like birth control, it's an easy enough concept to wrap your mind around. Put into math this means:

condoms + Catholics

= less Catholic babies

= less members of the Catholic Church

= less money going towards the Catholic Church

= you know what hits the fan (religiously speaking)

Now sure it's pretty cynical to assume that the only reason why the Church is against contraception is because they need a lot of church-goers come Sunday, but it's a realistic one: for the most part, young people aren't really into being Catholic. There are a lot of codes and conventions that limit them from doing the 'fun stuff' like pre-marital sex, etc. This being understood, the Church knows that if a Catholic couple have a baby, that baby is going to be raised Catholic, and will most likely stay with that religion until they have kids of their own, and those kids will be raised Catholic, and so on and so forth.

Sure it's practically immoral and most people aren't bright enough to pick up on this fact, and yes it's a complete ploy that has (possibly) kept the Catholic Church on top for the past few hundred years, but despite all this, this isn't what I have a problem with.

I have a problem with the fact that the Pope, a man who is considered divine and is looked up to by millions of people world wide, made a false statement, and never bothered to correct that statement. Furthermore, he specifically said this to thousands of people who currently live in a country that is being slowly destroyed by a terrible disease known as HIV. The only thing that is cheap, easy to attain, readily available and helps protect against this deadly disease are condoms, which are the exact thing that the Pope 'bashed' (for lack of a better word). Now, the millions of people who look up to him are questioning condom use, even though they do actually help protect against AIDS/HIV. And even though what he said is wrong and technically speaking he lied, no one is really allowed to say anything about it. Why? Because we are brought up in a religion-ridden society that considers it taboo and wrong to even think about questioning religion or what a religious leader says or does. Even though these people may be just as smart as us, we're not allowed to say a damn thing because we're just everyday citizens who although (for the most part) are educated, we're not the head of a religion. And religion is the one thing in society that you are not allowed to make fun of, question, or mock. Why? Because it's religion that's why. This isn't right and it isn't fair, and because of this, the Pope gets off scott free without have to explain a thing. And that, my friends, is where I have a problem, and honestly, that's where I think you should have a problem too.