BARCELONA, Spain, JULY 12, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Addressing the AIDS crisis, a Catholic doctors’ group urged that the Church’s voice be heard, given its leading role in caring for patients stricken with the affliction.
The World Federation of the Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC) presented a manifesto as the 14th International Conference on AIDS was winding down in Barcelona. The conference ended today.
According to U.N. data, one out of four AIDS patients in the world is treated in Catholic institutions. The doctors’ manifesto warned that preventative “campaigns based solely on condoms are dangerous and not very human.”
“Young people, especially, need to be educated and to learn to be responsible in respect of sex and affectivity,” the manifesto states. “What should be promoted are ways of behavior, such as delaying the age when sexual relations start, to abstain before marriage, to believe in healthy couples and in monogamy.”
Likewise, signers of the manifesto stated it is essential to “struggle against drug trafficking and the consumption of drugs throughout the world.”
FIAMC members committed themselves to “continue to promote medical and educational programs” to help AIDS patients.
After reading the manifesto publicly to the press on Thursday, Josep Maria Simon, president of the Association of Christian Doctors of Catalonia, said, “The Church is the institution that does the most at the world level for AIDS patients. … That was not said at the conference.”
