Catholics respond to Tutu
2004-02-25 11:24
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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned governments against using the economic crisis as an excuse to cut funding for fighting Aids.
Cape Town - The Catholic Church in South Africa says it is "dismayed" at Archbishop Desmond Tutu's criticism of the church's stand against condoms.
Tutu, an Anglican, earlier this week used an international Aids conference in Dublin to speak out against Catholic disapproval of condoms as a way of preventing the spread of Aids.
He said the idea that promoting condoms caused promiscuity was totally untrue.
However the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference's Aids office said in a statement on Wednesday that by focusing on promiscuity, Tutu had failed to note the "wider positive and negative ramifications around the use of condoms".
"The Aids office also regrets the continual harping on condoms, by the public at large and by the media, as though that were the only thing to be said about the Catholic Church's involvement or lack thereof in the response to the Aids epidemic.
"Second only to the State, the Catholic Church is the largest provider of home based care for the sick, of palliative care for the dying, and of care and support for Aids orphans."
- SAPA