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Vatican defends opposition to condom use

    JOHANNESBURG

    The Vatican has issued a strong defence of the Roman Catholic Church's controversial position against the use of condoms in a new five-page statement.

    Members of the Catholic clergy recently came under fire for advising people worldwide that condoms were permeable enough to allow HIV to pass through.

    Despite scientific consensus that condoms were effective in preventing HIV transmission, the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, said "fidelity, chastity and abstinence" were the most effective ways to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.

    Barragan was quoted by Reuters as saying: "We have to present this as the main way for the effective prevention of infection and spread of HIV/AIDS, since the phenomenon of AIDS is a pathology of the spirit."

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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