Pope Benedict XVI, making his first visit to Africa, condemned graft and abuse of power on the continent and said the church won’t remain indifferent to the suffering such actions cause people.
“In the face of violence, corruption and abuse of power, the church can never remain silent,” the 81-year-old pontiff told a crowd of more than 5,000 people at Cameroon’s Nsimalen International Airport late Tuesday.
The message, the pope said, must be proclaimed loud and clear.
The visit to Africa is the pope’s 11th international trip since his election in April 2005.
It is designed to prepare for the African Synod scheduled in Rome in October.
Dedicating his visit to Africa’s sick, the pope said he wished that all AIDS patients on the continent received free treatment. Earlier, on the flight from Rome to Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, the pope said more widespread use of condoms won’t prevent the spread of the disease.
AIDS “is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems,” he told reporters.
In his four years as pope, Benedict had never directly addressed condom use, although his position is not new.
His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, often said that sexual abstinence — not condoms — was the best way to prevent the spread of the disease.
Benedict also said the Roman Catholic Church was at the forefront of the battle against AIDS.
About 1.7 million people, mostly women, in sub-Saharan Africa became infected with the HIV virus in 2007, bringing the total number of infections in the region to 22.5 million, according to the latest report by UNAIDS, the United Nations program that deals with HIV/AIDS.
That’s two-thirds of the number of people living with the virus worldwide.
The pontiff, who is also due to visit Angola and Sao Tome, praised Cameroon President Paul Biya’s efforts to promote peace, specifically settling the Bakassi Peninsula conflict with Nigeria.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
