By Stacey Patton

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Yaounde, Cameroon on Tuesday, March 17, for his first trip to Africa, home to a fast-growing population of more than 230 million Catholics. For the next seven days he is expected to visit charities, meet with Muslim and Christian leaders, and to address the escalating violence, food shortages, disturbing climate change, financial turmoil and the AIDS epidemic decimating the continent’s sub-Saharan population.

“More and more of her [Africa's] people are falling prey to hunger, poverty and disease,” the Pope said upon his arrival.  “They cry out for reconciliation, justice and peace, and that is what the church offers them.”

While en route to Cameroon, the 81 year-old pontiff told reporters on board his official Alitalia plane that condoms are not the answer in the continent’s fight against the spread of HIV.

“You cannot resolve it with the distribution of condoms,” the Pope said. “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

According to UNAIDS, about 22 million Africans are infected with HIV and in 2007, three-quarters of all AIDS deaths occurred on the continent.

As the epidemic continues to claim lives, leaving behind millions of orphans, Pope Benedict gave assurances to his audience that the Catholic Church is at the forefront of the battle against AIDS. But practicing safe sex through the distribution of condoms along with educating people on how to use them is not part of the Vatican’s strategy.

The solution, according to the Pope, is “spiritual human awakening [and] friendship for those who suffer.”

I am not surprised by Pope Benedict’s stance on condoms. He is a theologically conservative leader who has defended traditional Catholic doctrine and values since his election in 2005. He has also emphasized the need to return to fundamental Christian values – a response to the increased secularization in European countries.

When I read Pope Benedict’s statements I pictured him dressed in one of his ornately embroidered papal robes with a pointy mitre atop his head while looming above millions of suffering Africans. I could see him extending one of his bright holy hands above their dusky heads while the other clutches an archiepiscopal cross.

The Africans say, “We are dying. This disease is killing us. We need help. We need solutions.”

And his holiness answers, “Condoms are not the answer.   What you need is faith, a spiritual awakening, and a good friend.”

In contrast, the UNAIDS position on condoms is, “Conclusive evidence from extensive research shows that correct use of condoms every time one has sex significantly reduces the risk of HIV transmission.”

Since Pope Benedict is celibate, he is theoretically immune and realistically out of touch, no pun intended, to the ravages of this global epidemic.

This stance reveals that the leadership of the Catholic Church is incapable of offering any common-sense solutions to modern-day challenges in Africa. Placing religious dogma over the lives of millions is irresponsible.

In 2005, there was a great opportunity to elect a cardinal from a third-world country to replace Pope John Paul II after his death. But the Catholic Church missed the opportunity to choose a leader who was more involved in a society in which AIDS and other modern-day controversies are strikingly visible.

The Church’s unwillingness to step outside the barriers of traditional teachings will not provide a useful antidote to Africa’s situation. In my mind, there are striking and disturbing similarities between the Pope’s remedies and those of village witch doctors who have been documented promising cures for AIDS that don’t work.

This also reminds me of something Malcolm X once said about the impact of colonialism, religious and otherwise, on Africa: “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land.  They said, ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes.  When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”

When religious leaders such as Pope Benedict make these kinds of pronouncements that intangibles such as faith, spiritual awakening and friendship will stop this deadly epidemic, I fear that millions more Africans will close their eyes and never wake up again.

Stacey Patton is Senior Editor/Writer of TheDefendersOnline and for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.