Students at catholic seminaries in Mozambique are being illegally submitted to tests for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, according to a report in Friday's issue of the independent weekly "Savana".
At a Catholic National Pastoral Assembly, under way in Maputo, "Savana" discovered that both those already attending seminaries, and those applying to join, are obliged to take the tests.
But under a law passed in 2000 it is illegal to oblige citizens to take HIV tests.
The question was raised by a nun from the northern province of Niassa, Ermelinda Emilio, who said she was concerned that the demand for HIV testing might scare potential priests away the seminaries.
"You can't enter a seminary without taking an HIV test", she told the "Savana" reporter. "Isn't this a way of discriminating against young people ?".
She believed there could well be people with a vocation for the catholic priesthood who would be unwilling to take an HIV test.
Francisco Cunlela, a teacher at the Pius X Seminary in Maputo, dismissed this concern. He told the paper that it was policy to submit candidate priests "to a series of exams to see what their state of health is". He admitted there was a failure to explain to seminary applicants what the purpose of the tests was.
That is was illegal to oblige citizens to take such tests never seemed to have crossed his mind.
He said it became compulsory for the seminarists to take the test in 2004. Some had turned out to be HIV-positive "and they left the seminary of their own free will".
But he also claimed they were not obliged to leave, and that nobody would be expelled from a seminary for testing positive.
The Catholic Church's ignorance or disregard for Mozambican law on HIV testing is hardly surprising from an organisation which forbids the only proven way of halting the spread of AIDS - the use of condoms.
The Pastoral Assembly unanimously reaffirmed the Vatican's blind hostility to the use of condoms under any circumstances.
A talk given by Cunlela, and reported by "Savana", collapsed into hysteria when he mentioned condoms. "It's not permitted, in any cases at all, to use condoms", declared this priest. "You can't use evil to do good. No to condoms ! That's the christian ethic".