Researchers of the University of Navarra have published a letter to the editor in AIDS, a scientific high-impact journal on Aids. The authors are Alfonso Osorio, Silvia Carlos and Cristina López del Burgo, researchers of the project "Education of human affectivity and sexuality" at the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS), directed by Jokin de Irala, professor of  preventive medicine. Dr. Osorio is also a professor at the Faculty of Education and Psychology, and Drs. Carlos and López del Burgo at the Faculty of Medicine.

In this text, they respond to another letter that recently appeared in AIDS, entitled: "The Pope as prevention? The use of preservatives by the Catholics increased in 5 HIV-endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa during the pontificate of Benedict XVI. "
The author reviews the data of the use of preservatives in five African countries around 2005 and compares them to those of 2011. He states that the use of condoms among the Catholic population increased during the pontificate of Benedict XVI and suggests that the increase may be due to the statements of the Pope regarding this issue at that time in November 2010 in his book "Luz del mundo" and might have led to the Catholics increasing the use of condoms.

Other factors and prevention campaigns

The experts of the University of Navarra describe the evident methodological limitations of this work, thus invalidating that the words of Benedict XVI can be related with the increasing use of the condom. They failed to consider the fact that there was also an increase in the use of condoms among Protestants, who doesn´t necessarily follow the teachings of the Pope."

They also emphasize that the data on the use of preservatives during the year 2011  come from surveys started a few months before and after the words of Benedict XVI "; therefore, they do not consider it to be reasonable "to attribute such a striking increase in the use of condoms to said comments and in such a short period of time after them."