Peter, I've generally thought of you as a very rational person, but I think you have a serious prejudice problem here - what do you mean by "It turns out that their version of it involves killing people," referring to the Catholic Church, I presume. I'm sorry, but that just doesn't make sense to me.

The Pope is right in saying that "a responsible and moral attitude toward sex would help fight the disease" far more than condoms. That may be impractical; but if a person is having promiscuous sex, why in the world would he or she worry about the morality of using condoms? And if the couple are married and one partner has AIDS and have moral qualms about using condoms, that's something the couple should discuss with a priest - most likely, there's a rational solution. As I recall, there's an exception in such a situation. On the other hand, promoting use of condoms would seem to create a false sense of security. Maybe there's a balance in there somewhere - but hey, don't expect a church to expect or even provide for promiscuity. That's for people to deal with on their own, and not with a papal blessing.

As a seminary-educated Catholic, I don't particularly agree with the Catholic Church's position on birth control, so I simply ignore it - but I think a number of comments here are taking things way too far.

-Joe-