Senior cardinal supports limited use of condoms

VATICAN CITY, Apr 22: One of the Roman Catholic Church's most prominent cardinals has thrown his weight behind calls for the Vatican to condone a limited use of condoms for people suffering from AIDS.

The remarks made by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini are at odds with official Roman Catholic teaching, which bans the use of condoms because they are a form of contraception.

''Certainly the use of condoms in particular situations can constitute a lesser evil,'' the retired archbishop of Milan and the Church's leading moderate was quoted as saying in news magazine L'Espresso.

''There is the particular situation of married couples in which one of the spouses is affected by AIDS. This person has an obligation to protect the other partner and the other partner also has to protect themselves.'' The Vatican made no official comment on the article, in which Martini, who was runner-up in last year's papal election to conservative Pope Benedict, also raises the possibility of single mothers adopting children.

The Catholic Church, which runs many hospitals and institutions to help AIDS victims, opposes the use of condoms and teaches that fidelity within heterosexual marriage, chastity and abstinence are the best way to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

It says promoting condoms to fight the spread of AIDS fosters what it sees as immoral and hedonistic lifestyles and behaviour that will only contribute to its spread.

However, there have been growing calls from moderate figures in the Church, including leading Belgian cardinal Godfried Daneels, to making exceptions for special cases such as when a man with HIV/AIDS insists on having sex with his wife.

Pope Benedict has avoided the thorny issue of the Church's condom ban, saying only he feels close to victims of the killer disease and encourages efforts to find a cure.

Reuters