Pope Benedict XVI left the Vatican on Tuesday, jet setting to Africa. There, he will begin a seven-day pilgrimage across the continent. However, his voyage is not at the forefront of recent media attention. Instead, his explicit comments rejecting the distribution of condoms in AIDS-plagued regions sparked outrage in the African motherland.

“You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms,” the pope told reporters aboard the plane. “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

“It is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems.”

Before Tuesday’s assertion, the pope had never spoken so directly about condom use. He has said that the Roman Catholic Church is a the forefront of the AIDS battle and that the Vatican encourages sexual abstinence to fight the spread of the disease.