Pope's condom feedback welcomed by campaign teams

Catholic reformers and teams working to battle HIV have welcomed remarks by Pope Benedict that the usage of condoms might not often be incorrect.

The Pope mentioned their use could possibly be justified on the case by case foundation to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids.

The remarks, because of be printed in a very guide subsequent week, mark a softening of his previously very difficult line against condoms in the battle against HIV, analysts say.

The Vatican has long opposed condoms as an synthetic type of contraception.

This has drawn large criticism, particularly from Aids campaigners, who say condoms are certainly one of the few solutions proven to avoid the spread of HIV.
'Significant shift'

Pope Benedict mentioned through a visit to Cameroon final year that handing out condoms could possibly really make HIV infection worse, drawing criticism from a number of EU states.

In his most up-to-date comments, on the other hand, he mentioned the usage of condoms could possibly be justified in exceptional circumstances.

He gave the illustration of male prostitutes where, he mentioned, making use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS might be viewed as an act of moral obligation, despite the fact that condoms were "not really the way in which to cope with the evil of HIV infection".

This marks a substantial shift in his previously implacable opposition for the use of condoms, says the BBC's religious affairs correspondent, Robert Pigott.

UNAIDS, the United Nations programme on HIV/Aids, welcomed the comments like a "significant and positive step forward".

"This transfer recognises that responsible sexual behaviour along with the use of condoms have important roles in HIV prevention," mentioned UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe.

The Kenya Treatment Entry Motion (KETAM), which works to battle the spread of HIV, welcomed what it mentioned was the Pope's acceptance of reality that abstinence didn't often operate.

"It's accepting the reality on the ground," mentioned David Kamau, head in the KETAM. "If the Church has did not get people to comply with its moral values and practice abstinence, they must get the subsequent best step and encourage condom use."

The Catholic reform group We're Church mentioned the comments showed the Pope was in a position to understand from practical knowledge.

The British homosexual rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, told the BBC the Pope's comments were substantial but wanted "clarification".
'Not a moral solution'

The new guide - Gentle in the Earth: The Pope, the Church along with the Indications in the Occasions - is based on the sequence of interview the Pope gave the German Catholic journalist, Peter Seewald, earlier this year.

When asked whether the Catholic Church was not opposed in principle for the use of condoms, the Pope replied: "She needless to say doesn't regard it like a real or moral option, but, in this or that case, there may be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a very first step in a very movement toward a unique way, a far more human way, of residing sexuality."

Pope Benedict mentioned the "sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalisation of sexuality" where sexuality was no longer an expression of like, "but only a sort of drug that folks administer to themselves".

Despite the fact that Pope Benedict reiterated the Church's elementary opposition to contraception, and repeated his view that condoms were not the reply to curbing HIV, he added that there was very much in the spot of sexual ethics that wanted to be pondered and expressed in new tactics.