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SACC "shocked" by Vatican's AIDS comments

    JOHANNESBURG

    The South African Council of Churches (SACC) has expressed "shock and disgust" at the Vatican's recent comments on the use of condoms in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

    This follows reports that members of the Roman Catholic clergy were advising people worldwide that condoms were permeable enough to allow HIV to pass through.

    Joe Mdhlela, an Anglican priest representing the SACC, said with the high rates of global HIV infection, Catholicism was failing to take the realities of the world into consideration.

    The Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency quoted Mdhlela as saying: "I am shocked and disgusted with the Catholic church. The Catholic church needs to look at the real world. There is undisputed medical evidence that condoms can help save lives."

    Mdhlela said that, along with condoms, churches also need to focus on abstinence and faithfulness.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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