Sex and the Holy City
<u>Sex and the Holy City will be broadcast on BBC One on Sunday, 12 October, 2003 at 22:15 BST.</u>
This week marks 25 years since Pope John Paul was elected to Saint Peter's throne. Yet as his reign is celebrated, millions of women around the world may feel they have reason to regret his long rule - and the global battles he has waged against contraception, abortion and promiscuity.
In the West, even many Catholics ignore the Church's teachings on sex. But in poorer countries - from where the next Pope may emerge - the words of the priest on sex still matter, whether spoken from the pulpit or to a government minister.
The Pope believes everyone - not just the world's billion Catholics - should follow the Vatican's teaching.
And he's tried to make sure the world listens - becoming a key player in the bitter global debate over women's rights and reproductive health.
Panorama has travelled across four continents to talk to those directly affected by the Pope's hardline doctrine on sex, to pro-lifers who've taken control of Manila's health clinics, banning the Pill and condoms, to the Archbishop of Nairobi who blames condoms for the spread of AIDS, even as members of his own congregation die of the virus...and to schoolgirls raped by their own father, yet forced to carry his babies to term.
All on behalf of a Pope who once helped a predecessor to reject the Pill against the views of the Vatican's own advisors.
In this unique documentary, Steve Bradshaw investigates how the Pope who tried to act in the best interests of women came to be accused by his opponents of ruining so many lives.