Cardinal: Condoms lesser evil to prevent Aids spread
A cardinal and one-time papal contender has said that condoms were the “lesser evil” in combating the spread of Aids, the latest senior churchman to diverge from the Vatican’s opposition to artificial contraception.
Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, retired archbishop of Milan, also suggested that even single women be allowed to “adopt” frozen embryos and carry them to term if the alternative is letting them die in the freezers of fertility clinics.
Church teaching holds that all procreation must take place within marriage and the Vatican also opposes freezing embryos and many other assisted fertility procedures.
Martini, who was considered a liberal alternative to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 conclave that elected Ratzinger pope, gave a wide-ranging interview on a host of bioethical issues to Italy’s L’Espresso newsweekly, which hit news-stands today.
