New Haven, Conn., Mar 28, 2009 (CNA).- The poor reporting which inflamed controversy over Pope Benedict XVI�s comments on condom use in African HIV prevention missed his �larger message,� Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus Carl Anderson has charged. He claimed the media have created a sound bite �gotcha� game in which reporters and commentators uncritically accepted the opinions of papal critics.
The controversy also reflects a �fundamental difference� in philosophies, Anderson added. While the Pope believes that people are capable of doing the right thing, Anderson argues his critics do not.
Anderson also cited a 2004 study of AIDS trends in Africa conducted by the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, which is headed by Dr. Edward C. Green. The study reported that behavior change is necessary to decrease HIV infection rates, but there has been �relatively little� promotion of behavior change relative to promotion of condom use.
�What the researchers mean by �primary behavior change� is both abstinence and being faithful to one�s partner,� Anderson wrote.
In a recent interview with National Review Online, however, Dr. Green noted that the Pope�s comments presented monogamy as the best answer to AIDS, rather than abstinence.
In Green�s interview, cited by Anderson, the researcher also said that HIV rates tend to go up where condoms are readily available, possibly because condom users take more risks than they might otherwise.
�Many Africans who I know personally think otherwise,� he said.
Again citing the 2004 Harvard report, Anderson said that the HIV rate in the Karamoja region of northeast Uganda had fallen to less than 2 percent compared with the rate of 30 percent in other regions.
Anderson then criticized the use of �isolated sound bites� in media reports on Pope Benedict.
�First at Regensberg, again at La Sapienza University in Rome, then in the controversy over Bishop Williamson, and now in Africa, the pope�s actual message was ignored as critics took his words out of context � or ignored their clear meaning,� he said.