VATICAN CITY, Mar 17, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Pope Benedict XVI landed Tuesday
in Cameroon after telling reporters on the plane that condoms will not
"overcome" AIDS.
The weeklong trip to Cameroon and Angola is the pope's first to the continent
since he began his reign four years ago, The Telegraph reported. It comes at a
time when Africans are an increasingly important part of the Roman Catholic
Church.
During his flight, Benedict said that the church is helping in the fight against
AIDS by teaching the importance of abstinence and fidelity.
AIDS, he said, "is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that
cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates
the problems."
The trip comes at a time when the pope has been under fire for lifting the
excommunication of an English-born traditionalist bishop who has publicly said
that only 300,000 Jews were killed during World War II.
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