Cardinal Martini calls condoms a "lesser evil" in fight against AIDS

[Deb in IA]

ABC News
Cardinal: Use of Condoms a 'Lesser Evil'

By NICOLE WINFIELD

VATICAN CITY Apr 21, 2006 (AP)— A senior cardinal who was considered for the papacy last year said in comments published Friday that the Roman Catholic Church should soften its ban on condoms because of the scourge of AIDS.

"We must do everything to fight AIDS," said Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the retired archbishop of Milan, in Italy's L'Espresso newsweekly. "Certainly, the use of condoms can constitute in certain situations a lesser evil."

While there is no specific, authoritative Vatican policy on using condoms to protect against AIDS, the Vatican opposes condoms because they are a form of what the church calls artificial contraception. Pope Benedict XVI repeated the Vatican's position last June, when he told African bishops abstinence was the only "fail-safe" way to prevent the spread of HIV.

The 79-year-old Martini was considered a liberal alternative to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 conclave that elected Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, pope. Martini is one of the most prominent church leaders to call for an easing of the position on condoms.


http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1872296

Wow.

 

[cardaway]

About time some sense entered the equation.

 

[Pigeon]

How nice that the organization has one cleric with a brain. How long will it be until he gets reprimanded and forced to recant, I wonder.

 

[bicker]

I wouldn't be so cynical. The Catholic Church does change over time -- it just changes a few decades behind the rest of the world.