Rubber meets the road

Further to this and this, I just joined a Facebook group, Condoms for the Pope.

Send a condom to the Pope asking him to distribute them to folks in developing countries.  Send a photo of a condom to his email at: benedictxvi@vatican.va send a real one to his address at:

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Apostolic Palace
00120 Via del Pellegrino
Citta del Vaticano

1,605 members and counting.

The Pope, you may recall, condemned the use of condoms because,  according to him, they promote lots of sex instead of just safe sex -- and lots of sex leads to lots of unsafe sex.

Or so he claims, despite the scientific evidence.

(T)he London-based Lancet said the Pope had "publicly distorted scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine on this issue".

It said the male latex condom was the single most efficient way to reduce the sexual transmission of HIV/Aids.

Why the Pope opposes condoms

"Whether the Pope's error was due to ignorance or a deliberate attempt to manipulate science to support Catholic ideology is unclear," said the journal.

But it said the comment still stood and urged the Vatican to issue a retraction.

"When any influential person, be it a religious or political figure, makes a false scientific statement that could be devastating to the health of millions of people, they should retract or correct the public record," it said.

"Anything less from Pope Benedict would be an immense disservice to the public and health advocates, including many thousands of Catholics, who work tirelessly to try and prevent the spread of HIV/Aids worldwide."

Our correspondent says the article shows how far the Pope's attempts to justify the Vatican's position on condoms have misfired.

Indeed.

One Facebook group member says, instead of wasting all that latex on his His Hopelessness, we should send it directly to people in developing nations who need it. We should then email a photo of the missive to the pope. She's probably right.

But to paraphrase a certain Big Man around the Vatican, give a man a condom, he stays safe once. Teach a pope that condoms make a difference in people's miserable lives, he promotes safe sex all the days of his life.

Well, maybe not.

But it sure beats the alternative.

Anyway ...

The campaign is spreading.

Here's yet another Facebook group. More than 40,000 members.

The pope sure rubbered a lot of people the wrong way on this one.