Philip Adams, film-maker, columnist, commentator and broadcaster isn't one known for not calling a spade a shovel.
His weekly column in The Australian this week under the headline "My holy roller crusade" is no exception - taking on the Pope, the Catholic Church and Australia's Archbishop Pell:
"Which brings us to the greatest tragedy on Earth: AIDS. Over the years I’ve talked to any number of medical crusaders and epidemiologists on this modern plague and all agree the Vatican’s stand on condoms is a crime against humanity. Particularly in Africa, where the policy has been a death sentence to millions. Aided and abetted by the Bush Administration’s “faith-based” policies (originating from his evangelical following) this simple, cheap method of preventing the spread of a disease as destructive as the Black Death is denied the populations of Africa and other underdeveloped nations.
Africa is crucial to the future of Roman Catholicism. In the West many of the faithful have mutinied, the church’s rules on contraception the major issue. But Africa’s bishops hold the line far more determinedly than our Cardinal. They want to see their flocks grow – even if many of the millions of extra Catholics are doomed to misery and death. There’s always Heaven. While the Vatican has cancelled limbo and downgraded purgatory, it approves hell on Earth.
The condom alone won’t end AIDS in Africa – there are a plethora of health and cultural problems – but it remains the most affordable and efficacious method of slowing its spread."
His weekly column in The Australian this week under the headline "My holy roller crusade" is no exception - taking on the Pope, the Catholic Church and Australia's Archbishop Pell:
"Which brings us to the greatest tragedy on Earth: AIDS. Over the years I’ve talked to any number of medical crusaders and epidemiologists on this modern plague and all agree the Vatican’s stand on condoms is a crime against humanity. Particularly in Africa, where the policy has been a death sentence to millions. Aided and abetted by the Bush Administration’s “faith-based” policies (originating from his evangelical following) this simple, cheap method of preventing the spread of a disease as destructive as the Black Death is denied the populations of Africa and other underdeveloped nations.
Africa is crucial to the future of Roman Catholicism. In the West many of the faithful have mutinied, the church’s rules on contraception the major issue. But Africa’s bishops hold the line far more determinedly than our Cardinal. They want to see their flocks grow – even if many of the millions of extra Catholics are doomed to misery and death. There’s always Heaven. While the Vatican has cancelled limbo and downgraded purgatory, it approves hell on Earth.
The condom alone won’t end AIDS in Africa – there are a plethora of health and cultural problems – but it remains the most affordable and efficacious method of slowing its spread."
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