CARNAL NATION

Le Point reports that in repsonse to Pope Benedict XVI's naïve and dangerous assertions about HIV/AIDS in Africa, all religious broadcasts on France 2, one of the major broadcast networks in France, will have the logo of Sidaction, the nation's leading HIV/AIDS charitable foundation, superimposed on them. Beginning on March 20, eleven television networks (including TF1, M6, Canal+, Arte, W9, and LCI) and five radio networks (RTL, Europe 1, France Inter, France Bleu, and France Info) will broadcast requests for donations to Sidaction. Pledges will be accepted by telephone, by Internet, and by text through March 22.

France, one of Europe's most Catholic countries and the former home to the papacy (1309-1377), has been outraged by the pontiff's declaration, made in an airplane high above the continent of Africa, that "You can't resolve [AIDS] with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem." Officials and diplomats at all levels of government have expressed their astonishment, consternation, and sadness at the remarks made by His Holiness. Le Point reports that every major political party has come out against the Pope's statement; some have even gone so far as to call his words criminal.

On l'a déjà dit, mais il vaut mieux le répéter: Vive la France!