Cardinal says condoms may be ‘lesser AIDS evil’

VATICAN CITY – Despite the Vatican’s opposition to condoms, a senior cardinal said in comments published Friday that condoms were the “lesser evil” when considering the scourge of AIDS.

“We must do everything to fight AIDS,” said Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the retired archbishop of Milan, in Italy’s L’Espresso newsweekly. “Certainly, the use of condoms can constitute in certain situations a lesser evil.”

While there is no specific, authoritative Vatican policy on using condoms to protect against AIDS, the Vatican opposes condoms because they are a form of artificial contraception. Pope Benedict XVI repeated the Vatican’s position last June, when he told African bishops abstinence was the only “fail-safe” way to prevent the spread of HIV.

The 79-year-old Martini, a Jesuit, was considered a liberal alternative to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 conclave that elected Ratzinger, now Benedict, pope. Martini is one of the most prominent church leaders who have spoken publicly about condoms being a “lesser evil” in the fight against AIDS.

Others include Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels and Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan of Mexico, who has said condoms could sometimes be condoned, such as when a woman cannot refuse the sexual advances of her HIV-positive husband.

Martini was responding to questions from Italian scientist and bioethicist Ignazio Marino.

Martini agreed with the questioner that condoms were a “lesser evil” than the risk of transmitting the disease.

“There’s also the unique situation of a married couple, one of whom is afflicted with AIDS. That one is obliged to protect the other, and the other must be able to protect him or herself,” the cardinal said.

However, Martini noted that it’s one thing to condone the lesser evil in such cases, and quite another for the church to promote condom use.

In the wide-ranging interview, Martini also suggested that even single women could be implanted with frozen embryos if the alternative is letting the embryos die or be discarded. Church teaching holds that all procreation must take place within marriage; the Vatican also opposes many assisted fertility procedures.