Women and men can use condoms to protect themselves from Aids, Vatican says - Telegraph.co.uk

The papacy has traditionally been seen as a job for life, with pontiffs expected to remain at the helm of the Church until death Photo: REUTERS
Pope Benedict XVI had said in a new book that the use of condoms by Catholics would be morally justifiable in "certain cases", citing as an example the responsibility of a male prostitute not to pass on the deadly disease to a client.
The 83-year-old pontiff's initial comment on condoms was contained in the book "Light of the World", extracts of which were published at the weekend, but they were so ambiguous that the Vatican was forced to yesterday [Tue] offer clarification and interpretation.
The Vatican's spokesman said that the Pope intended that the change of policy should apply to anybody with HIV/Aids, on the basis that preventing another person from being infected was the lesser of two evils, even it meant averting a possible pregnancy
"This is if you're a woman, a man, or a transsexual. We're at the same point. The point is it's a first step of taking responsibility, of avoiding passing a grave risk onto another," Father Federico Lombardi said.
The landmark shift appeared to indicate that the Vatican's previous policy was unrealistic and even irresponsible. Only last year, at the start of a trip to Africa, the pope said that the spread of Aids could not be prevented by condom use and that they could even "aggravate" the crisis.
The Catholic Church has long been criticised for refusing to sanction the use of condoms, particularly in Africa, where the virus has spread the virus to an estimated 22 million people.
Monsignor Jacques Suaudeau, an expert at the Vatican's bioethics advisory board, said Benedict was articulating the idea in Catholic doctrine that there are degrees of evil.
"Contraception is not the worst evil. The church does not see it as good, but the church does not see it as the worst," he said. "Abortion is far worse. Passing on HIV is criminal. That is absolute irresponsibility."
The Pope's words do not change the overall Catholic disapproval of contraception, but were nevertheless welcomed by liberal Catholics, Aids activists and health officials.
Michel Sidibé, the head of the UN agency for fighting Aids, said it was "a significant and positive step forward."
Elsewhere in the book, Benedict described the paedophile priest scandals which have hit the Catholic Church as "almost like the crater of a volcano, out of which suddenly a tremendous cloud of filth came, darkening and soiling everything."
He also said he would never have lifted the excommunication of a British bishop had he known that he was a Holocaust denier, conceding that a simple search on the internet by his aides would have disclosed the inflammatory views of Bishop Richard Williamson.
The Pope caused controversy in January last year when he lifted Williamson's excommunication shortly after the bishop claimed in a television interview that the Nazis did not use gas chambers and killed no more than 300,000 Jews.
Bishop Williamson is facing expulsion from his order. He was convicted in Germany of 'incitement' in April and fined 10,000 euros.
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