Africa: Key Points of Roman Catholic Church's Africa Roadmap

Pope Benedict XVI gave his approval Saturday to "Africae Munus" ("The Pledge for Africa"), a 135-page apostolic exhortation for the Roman Catholic Church in Africa. The document includes the following statement regarding HIV/AIDS: "The problem of AIDS, in particular, clearly calls for a medical and pharmaceutical response. This is not enough, however: The problem goes deeper. Above all, it is an ethical problem. The change of behavior that it requires -- for example, sexual abstinence, rejection of sexual promiscuity, fidelity within marriage -- ultimately involves the question of integral development, which demands a global approach and a global response from the Church. For if it is to be effective, the prevention of AIDS must be based on a sexual education that is itself grounded in an anthropology anchored in the natural law and enlightened by the word of God and the Church's teaching."

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