No matter how important the need is for protection against HIV/AIDS in countries worldwide, the Roman Catholic Church has repeatedly rejected the use of condoms during sexual intercourse as “ineffective” in halting the virus’ spread.

The latest reports of such foolishness come from Panorama, an investigative BBC program, in an edition titled “Sex and the Holy City,” aired last Sunday.

The Roman Catholic Church opposes any form of artificial contraception — particularly condoms, which they claim promote promiscuity. But, as this program revealed, their traditional opposition is being falsely supplemented with arguments over their effectiveness.

Apparently, some Roman Catholic leaders have been suggesting the HIV virus can pass through microscopic holes in condoms. Archbishop of Nairobi Raphael Ndingi Nzeki even went so far as to claim in a Reuters article, “AIDS … has grown so fast because of the availability of condoms.”

However, it is blatantly flying in the face of scientific evidence to deny condoms’ efficacy. Panorama said research has shown intact condoms are impermeable to particles as small as HIV.

According to the World Health Organization, studies their organization has conducted have firmly established the fact that condoms, when used correctly, are 90 percent effective in preventing the spread of HIV.

The remaining 10 percent is connected to improper usage. However, people can be educated on how to use condoms correctly. It’s not very hard to follow a picture diagram, and if people are told to pay attention to expiration dates, they will. If condoms are used properly, it only logically follows their prevention success rate would be at or very near 100 percent.

But because of the dictation of morality, churches in countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS — such as Kenya, where one in five people is HIV positive — are putting people’s health in danger by suggesting governments urge their citizens not to use condoms at all.

The Roman Catholic Church is refusing to acknowledge scientific evidence of the effectiveness of condoms — and because of that, they will need to be truthfully informed of how to keep themselves and their partners safe from life-threatening diseases that are spread through sexual contact.

This situation is comparable to the church once upon a time insisting the Earth was the center of the universe, even in the face of scientific evidence this was not the case.

Ignorance in this case could mean horrible sickness and death to those whom the church has kept uninformed. Hopefully, the atrocious lie that condoms can “kill” is able to be corrected before it’s too late — if it isn’t too late already.