The Pope is in Africa, and in his infinite wisdom, he showed the utmost ignorance on the urgent subject of the AIDS epidemic.

On the plane ride over, the Pontiff declared that “you can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms.” He added, appallingly, “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

Anyone who’s been dealing with the AIDS crisis in Africa understands that the mass distribution of condoms is one of the only effective ways of stemming the spread of this hideous plague.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the epicenter of the plague. 22 million people there are infected with HIV, and three out of every four AIDS deaths in the world occur there.

And that’s where the Pontiff is headed, delivering a message of denial and a bouquet of poison flowers to the people who are suffering needlessly from this catastrophic disease.

The Pope can prattle on all he wants about the wonders of abstinence, but it’s a fact that people are going to have sex.

And it’s a fact that if they have unprotected sex in sub-Saharan Africa, their odds of getting AIDS are astronomical.

A condom can prevent that.

But the Pope doesn’t believe it, and doesn’t want the people of Africa to believe it.

His sermon boils down to this: If you can’t be abstinent, die.