A hazy view of marriage and the family is behind the spread of Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases in Africa, Pope Benedict XVI said on Monday.
Talking to Kenyan bishops visiting the Vatican, the pontiff stressed his view that most Africans held matrimony and the family in the highest esteem and encouraged the bishops to ''safeguard this precious treasure''.
''Too often the evils that strike parts of African society, such as promiscuity, polygamy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as Aids can be related directly to an untidy vision of marriage and family life,'' he said.
''That's why it's important to help parents teach their children the Christian vision of marriage, conceived as an indivisible bond between man and woman''.
In 2006 almost three million people are believed to have died in Africa as a result of Aids and about 3 million more are infected with the virus every year.
The Catholic Church says the best way to beat the epidemic is through sexual abstinence and marital fidelity. It rejects condoms as a way of fighting the disease, saying they amount to abortion, which is against Catholic doctrine.
The Vatican has long been criticised for its continued opposition to the use of condoms, even in countries such as Lesotho, in southern Africa, where almost one in three adults is infected with the HIV virus.
