Claiming to counter Vatican “misinformation,” a group of Catholics is launching a worldwide campaign asserting “Good Catholics Use Condoms.”
The campaign will be launched in Washington, D.C., with provocative ads in the most highly traveled subway stations, then move worldwide in 2004 with newspaper and billboard ads, e-mail action alerts and educational materials.
The launch coincides with World AIDS Day on Monday.
The “Condoms4Life” campaign says it presents a “positive message to sexually active Catholics about responsibility and caring for others” that admittedly contradicts Catholic bishops worldwide who maintain condoms are immoral and unsafe.
“We believe in God,” the ads say. “We believe that sex is sacred. We believe in caring for each other. We believe in using condoms.”
The campaign organizers dismiss the bishops’ claim condoms are helping to spread HIV/AIDS and calls the Vatican’s policy on condoms a disaster.
The Catholic Church and many health-related groups, however, point out condoms do not have a 100 percent safety rate and do no protect from many kinds of sexually transmitted diseases.
