Pope's visit to Africa will produce results

| Tue, 03/24/2009 - 04:52

Pope Benedict XVI's first visit to Africa will produce important results, Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi said on Monday.

The pontiff was returning to the Vatican on Monday at the end of a two-nation visit to Cameroon and Angola.

The visit was marred by the death of two women in a stampede to enter the stadium in the Angolan capital of Luanda before he presided at a youth rally on Saturday and polemics over his remarks against the use of condoms to fight AIDS.

The pontiff grabbed headlines worldwide last Tuesday after saying condoms not only do not help, but ''increase the problem'' in the fight to prevent the spread of AIDS as he spoke to journalists accompanying him on a flight to Africa for a seven-day pastoral trip.

Lombardi said that the pope had talked about Africa's main issues: peace, development of real democracy, human rights, development and progress and solidarity and had ''given his contribution''.

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