SPAIN: The Spanish Catholic Church's announcement this week that it supports the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS is just the latest indication of a growing tension between the Holy See and local churches worldwide on HIV/AIDS prevention.
On Tuesday, the Spanish Bishops' Conference spokesman, Juan Antonio Martinez Cammino, speaking after a meeting with Spanish Health Minister Ms Elena Salgado, said the Spanish church was favourable to the so-called ABC approach of abstinence, being faithful to partners and using condoms, adding: "Condoms have a place in the global prevention of AIDS."
That view appears to contradict the teaching of Pope John Paul II, who has argued that condoms cannot be used in the fight against HIV/AIDS because they are a form of artificial birth control.
In a message for the World Day of the Sick in Cameroon next month, the Pope writes: "As regards the drama of AIDS, I have already had occasion in other circumstances to emphasise that AIDS is also a 'pathology of the spirit'. In order to fight AIDS in a responsible way, its prevention should be increased through education in respect for the sacred value of life and through formation in the correct practice of sexuality."
In the last year, however, senior Catholic Church figures in England, Belgium, India and South Africa have all suggested that condoms could be used in the fight against AIDS.
A year ago Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels argued that a HIV-positive person "must use a condom" if he wants to have sexual relations. Last March Bishop Kevin Dowling of South Africa, speaking at Boston College, Massachusetts, argued that, since the church ministers "in the real world", then it should give people the option of using a condom, "not as a contraceptive, but to prevent transmission of a death-dealing virus".
In July, English Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor expressed a similar viewpoint.
In September, the Commission for Health of the Indian Bishops Conference, whilst not promoting or propagating the use of condoms, opted to provide information about them so people might make their own choice.
Officials at the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Pastoral Health were unavailable for comment yesterday.