Vatican Reopens Condom Debate

In response to the AIDS epidemic devastating Africa, the Vatican has re-opened the debate on the use of condoms.

In an article in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Monsignor Jacques Suaudeau, a member of the Pontifical Council on the Family, writes: "If people want to prevent AIDS they must be convinced to change their sexual behavior. Until a real effort is made in this regard...the prophylactic is one of the best ways to contain the sexual transmission of HIV and AIDS."

Suaudeau says sheaths may be "the lesser of two evils," but adds he would prefer to see "traditional monogamy" used to prevent the disease.

In the 1960s, Pope Paul VI rejected a recommendation from a pontifical commission that Rome lift its ban on artificial birth control.