Media network to distribute documentaries about Catholic responses to AIDS victims

Nov 28, 2009 / 16:14 pm

A selection of 28 documentaries about AIDS victims and the response of the local Catholic Church will be made available to Catholic broadcasters through the Catholic Radio and Television Network (CRTN).

The network says the programs, selected from Spanish, French and English speaking producers, show how love, care and education in faithfulness and abstinence are the most effective weapons against the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The documentaries provided by CRTN include the Metanoia Media production “The Change is On” about the response to HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The Spanish-language series from Goya Producciones, “The Culture of Life,” reflects “the Church’s love and experience as the world’s primary HIV/AIDS care giver,” CRTN says.

While condom use is often offered as the primary method to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS, the Catholic Church, which considers condom use to be a corruption of the marital act, has questioned this approach. Pope Benedict XVI triggered international controversy with a March 2009 comment saying that condoms will not stop the spread of AIDS.

Some researchers also doubt the practicality of condom use in many HIV prevention programs. Dr. Edward Green, a Senior Research Scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, has said no association between condom use and lower HIV rates in Africa has been discovered.

According to a CRTN press release, AIDS has killed more than 27 million people since it was first identified in 1981. More than 35 million worldwide are infected with HIV. In Africa, more than 11 million children are AIDS orphans.

More information about the documentaries is available at http://www.crtn.org