VATICAN:The Roman Catholic Church has taken the first step towards what could be a historic shift away from its total ban on the use of condoms.
Pope Benedict XVI's "health minister" is understood to be urging him to accept that in restricted circumstances - specifically the prevention of Aids - barrier contraception is the lesser of two evils.
Meanwhile, Pope Benedict and the Archbishop of Canterbury acknowledged yesterday that issues such as women priests and gay bishops in the Anglican Church were serious obstacles to unity.
The Pope, in an address to Dr Rowan Williams on his first Vatican visit since the pontiff's election last year, spoke of "strains and difficulties" besetting the Anglican Communion.
He said that recent developments, "especially concerning the ordained ministry and certain moral teachings", had affected not only the Anglican Communion's internal relations but also those with the Catholic Church.
The two talked for 25 minutes in private and held a joint prayer service in a modern Vatican chapel covered with mosaics.
The recommendations on condoms, which have not been made public, still have to be reviewed by the traditionally conservative Vatican department responsible for safeguarding theological orthodoxy and then by the Pope himself, before any decision is made.
Some say the rethink, commissioned by Pope Benedict following his election last year, could save millions of lives around the world. Campaigners and organisations involved in the fight against Aids have long been pressing the Vatican to change its stance and last year the head of HIV/Aids at the World Health Organisation initiated talks with the Vatican to see if any movement was possible.
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who heads the papal department responsible for health issues, revealed on Tuesday that he had completed the first stage of the review. A 200-page report, reflecting opinion within the church, had been sent to the Pope and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he said.
He did not reveal its conclusions. But Cardinal Barragan is known to favour reform and Vatican sources said it was highly likely that he had come out in support of using condoms in marriages where one of the partners was HIV-positive.
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica, which broke the news of the policy review earlier this year, reported on Wednesday that the Vatican would "go from prohibition to the definition of exceptional cases in which it would be possible for the faithful to use prophylactics to avert fatal risks".
Cardinal Barragan noted a passage from a 1981 document issued by the late Pope John Paul II. This said that "every conjugal act must be open to life". Until now, this has been interpreted as an injunction against contraception. But it could also be used to support an argument in favour of the preservation of life by the use of barrier methods.
The 1987 document Donum Vitae, which Pope Benedict signed with the late pontiff, declared that the Roman Catholic Church could never agree to the use of contraceptives in homosexual relationships or by men and women who were not married. However, it omitted to mention married couples.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which will now consider the issue, was headed by Pope Benedict for 24 years before his election. After he became Pope, he appointed as his successor an American, Cardinal William Levada. For the previous 10 years, Cardinal Levada had been Archbishop of San Francisco - a city where the spread of Aids was a key issue. - ( Guardian service, Reuters)