African Archbishop backs Pope's condom comments

The Roman Catholic Church’s most senior cleric in Nigeria has come out in support of the Pope Benedict XVI following his recent comments against the use of contraception.

On his first visit to Africa as Pope earlier int the year, the Pope was heavily criticised by the media for saying that distributing condoms had not only failed to stop the spread of HIV and Aids, but could even make it worse.

The Archbishop of Abuja in Nigeria, John Onaiyekan said in a letter to Catholic news agency Zenit, “I know that the Pope is speaking the truth.

“I suspect that those who were so vociferous in condemning the Pope have never touched an HIV-infected person, let alone rendered any care and attention.

"It is so much easier to distribute gadgets, especially at other people's expense. What reduces infections is less casual sex, not more condoms," said the Archbishop who is also the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

Whilst many activists and even some governments criticised the Pope, there were some in the scientific community who backed him.

Edward C Green, the head of the Aids research centre at Harvard University, said that the evidence on the spread of Aids supported the Pope's position.

“When people think they're made safe by using condoms at least some of the time, they actually engage in riskier sex,” he was quoted as saying by The Times.

Other senior clergymen in the Catholic Church also supported the Pope.

Bishop George Nkuo of the Kumbo diocese in Cameroon, said: “I have huge amounts of testimony that the display and the spread of condoms has only promoted promiscuity … People believe that using them makes everything safe.”

The newly appointed Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, told the BBC, “What he actually talked about was the need to humanise sexuality. And I think to some extent he was speaking up in protection of African women.”