Says Pope's words saying condom use was permissible under exceptional circumstances is not 'revolutionary', even as AIDS activists hail comment

'Nothing changed on use of condom'

Says Pope's words saying condom use was permissible under exceptional circumstances is not 'revolutionary', even as AIDS activists hail comment

The Vatican last night cautioned that there is nothing "revolutionary" in Pope Benedict XVI's startling assertion that condom use in exceptional circumstances can be a responsible act in the fight against the spread of HIV.

The Holy See's chief spokesman, the Rev Federico Lombardi, issued a statement stressing that the pope's comment in a book being published on Tuesday neither "reforms or changes" church teaching, which forbids use of condoms and other contraceptives.

Neither was Benedict "morally justifying" the unbridled exercise of sexuality, Lombardi added.

The Pope maintains that condom use to lessen the danger of infection is a "first assumption of responsibility," the statement said, quoting from the book.

"The reasoning of the pope cannot certainly be defined as a revolutionary turn," the spokesman said.
The pope spoke in an interview given to a German journalist. Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano on Saturday published excerpts from the book, Light of the World, three days ahead of publication.

In the interview, Benedict says that in certain cases, such as for a male prostitute, condom use could be a first step in assuming moral responsibility for stemming the spread of the virus that causes AIDS.

Praise from UNAIDS

Pope Benedict XVI's possible shift on condom use is a "significant and positive step forward," the head of the United Nations anti-AIDS campaign said, welcoming the potentially historic remark.

"This move recognises that responsible sexual behaviour and the use of condoms have important roles in HIV prevention," UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe said in a statement.

The Roman Catholic Church firmly opposes artificial contraception.

The pope caused a firestorm of protest last year when he spoke out against condoms as a way of controlling AIDS during a trip to Africa, the continent hardest hit by the disease.

"You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms," the pope said in March 2009. "On the contrary, it increases the problem."

Pope's words

"There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralisation, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanisation of sexuality."