The Vatican defended Pope Benedict XVI's rejection of condoms as a way to stop HIV following international criticism Wednesday that he was weakening the fight against the disease.

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France and Germany sharply critiqued the pope’s declaration that distributing condoms “increases” the AIDS problem. The French foreign ministry said the statement could “endanger public-health policies and the imperative to protect human life.”

Two German ministers said on the pope’s first full day in Africa, a continent ravaged by HIV, that it was irresponsible to reject condoms. The United Nations agency charged with fighting AIDS also spoke out in favor of condom use.

The 81-year-old pope told reporters on his flight Tuesday to Cameroon that a responsible and moral attitude toward sex would help fight the disease.

“You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms,” he said. “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

Papal spokesman Federico Lombardi described the criticism as “echoes caused by some words by the pope on the AIDS problems.”

Lombardi said the church's “essential principles” in its commitment to the fight against AIDS were “education about people's responsibility in the use of sexuality” and the “essential role of marriage and family.” The Vatican has long rejected the use of all forms of contraception.

Lombardi said in the written statement at the end of the second day of the weeklong papal visit that the church stresses treatment for “the widest number of sick” and “human and spiritual assistance” to AIDS patients.

The pope met with Cameroonian president Paul Biya, one of Africa's longest-ruling strongmen, who has been in power since 1982. Crowds were sparse as Benedict XVI was driven through the city in a closed limousine.

He told Cameroon's 31 bishops that Christians must fight for social justice and urged them to defend the traditional African family from the dangers of modernity and secularization. He also asked them to help protect the poor from the impact of globalization.

The pope said that while the Catholic Church in Africa is the fastest-growing sect in the world, it faces competition from increasingly popular evangelical movements and “the growing influence of superstitious forms of religion.”

The German-born pope also said that exuberant African rites should not “obstruct” the liturgy of the mass.

He called it the “duty” of Christians -- particularly economic and political leaders -- “to be guided by the church's social teaching in order to contribute to the building up of a more just world where everyone can live with dignity.”

Benedict flies next to Angola.

[This report reprinted with permission of the Associated Press. (c) 2009 by Associated Press | Victor L. Simpson | March 19, 2009]