Strong hints emerged yesterday that the Vatican is preparing to change its policy on the use of condoms in the fight against Aids.A 200-page study on the question, commissioned by the Pope, is being passed to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for consideration. "This is something that worries the Pope a lot," said Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, head of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care which compiled the study.
The report's completion coincides with the news that 2.9 million people died of Aids-related illnesses this year and 4.3 million more became infected.
The Vatican u-turn was first hinted at in reports in May.The study's contents are secret but it is believed that it urges a subtle but important change of tack. Condom use will be permitted if a man with HIV insists on having sex with his non-infected wife, as a "lesser evil".
The Vatican of course is taking its time. According to UNAids, every eight seconds someone in the world becomes infected with Aids. In countries that had once done well against the scourge, such as Uganda, Aids is again on the march, as fewer people use condoms.
By next February, when it is predicted that Pope Benedict XVI will pronounce on the question, another 806,000 people, at present rates, will have become infected. Since the publication of the Instruction "Donum Vitae", signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (as the Pope then was), 20 years ago, which mandated the wholesale ban on condoms that has been in force ever since, more than 20 million have died.
