Vatican wrestles with condoms

last updated 8 January 2015

Rome

Slowly and cautiously, the Vatican is reconsidering its blanket prohibition against the use of condoms, church officials confirmed this week. Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, who heads a Vatican health committee, said last week that the Vatican was studying whether to allow condom use by married couples, in cases in which one spouse has been diagnosed with AIDS. But other Vatican officials said any policy change would almost certainly be “years away.” Rumors that a dramatic reversal was in the works began swirling a couple of weeks ago, when the retired archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, said that in the era of AIDS, condoms could be a “lesser evil.” Many prelates doubt the conservative Pope Benedict XVI will ultimately agree with that assessment, though they said it was significant that he asked for an internal review.