In a message for World AIDS Day, the Vatican has condemned a culture of sex that is encouraging the AIDS epidemic and asserted that the best way to prevent the spread of the AIDS virus was keeping sexual activity restricted to marriage and intensifying the strength of the family.
World AIDS Day, the international day of action on HIV and AIDS, is commemorated around the globe on the 1st of December. It celebrates the progress made in the battle against the epidemic, and brings into focus the remaining challenges.The Vatican's Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care issued the message, stating that sexual transmission remains the most important means of infection, even greater than by mother to child and blood transfusions. The message also stressed that this is greatly fostered by a kind of pansexual culture that devalues sexuality, reducing it to mere pleasure without any further meaning.
Previously, the Vatican has opposed condom campaigns, asserting that they do not actually protect against transmission of the disease and may end up encouraging promiscuous sexual activity.
Those who advocate the use of condoms as a way to help combat the spread of the HIV virus have criticized the Vatican’s opposition to condoms.
The message has strongly urged legal reforms to give more equitable health care to AIDS patients in developing countries and asked pharmaceutical companies to make anti-AIDS drugs more accessible to the poor.
