Vatican to Revise Condom Policy!

ROME (Digital Dementia News Services) - The Vatican will soon publish a statement on the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS, an issue highlighted by a call from a leading cardinal to ease its ban on them, a Catholic Church official said. Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, the head of the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Vatican's Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, declined to reveal the contents of the document in an interview published in Sunday's la Repubblica newspaper, but said Pope Benedict had asked his department to study the issue.

The former archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, who was the standard bearer for a moderate minority in the conclave that elected the Pope last year, called for reform in the Church’s condom policy in an interview published in Italy on Friday.

The Vatican has traditionally opposed condoms on grounds that they "diminish sensitivity" but several cardinals have said in recent years that using them is a lesser evil if the alternative is infection with AIDS.

"This is a very difficult and delicate subject that has required prudence, careful study and field work," said Mexican-born Cardinal Barragan who recently returned to Rome after a fact-finding mission that took him to Las Vegas, Manila, Bangkok and Amsterdam.

"My department is studying this closely with scientists and theologians expressly assigned to draft a document that will be issued soon," he said. He declined to speculate on whether the Vatican will make any official recommendations on the age-old selection dilemmas: Ribbed or smooth? Natural or fruit-flavored?