[TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=629 border=0] [TBODY] [TR] [TD colSpan=3] [DIV class=mxb] [DIV class=sh]Cardinal backs limited condom use [/DIV][/DIV][/TD][/TR] [TR] [TD vAlign=top width=416][FONT size=2][!-- S BO --][!-- S IIMA --] [TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0] [TBODY] [TR] [TD] [img height=152 alt="Cardinal Martini " hspace=0 src="vny!://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41584000/jpg/_41584466_ap203bodymartini.jpg" width=203 border=0] [DIV class=cap]Cardinal Martini is one of the Church's most prominent leaders[/DIV][/DIV][/TD][/TR][/TBODY][/TABLE][!-- E IIMA --][!-- S SF --][FONT size=3]One of the Roman Catholic Church's most distinguished cardinals has publicly backed the use of condoms among married couples to prevent Aids transmission. [/FONT] [FONT size=3]Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini said that in couples where one had HIV/Aids, which could pass to the partner, the use of condoms was "a lesser evil". [/FONT] [FONT size=3]The Vatican says condoms should never be used, even to stop Aids spreading from one married partner to another. [/FONT] [FONT size=3]The Church teaches that abstinence is the best way to tackle disease. [!-- E SF --][/FONT] [FONT size=3]Growing issue [/FONT] [FONT size=3]Cardinal Martini, who used to be Archbishop of Milan, made the comments in an interview with the Italian weekly magazine l'Espresso. [/FONT] [FONT size=3]In it he says that the fight against Aids, which has caused more than three million deaths, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, must be pursued by all available means. [/FONT] [FONT size=3]The Vatican has made no official comment on the article, in which the cardinal also raises the possibility of single mothers adopting abandoned children. [/FONT] [FONT size=3]But the BBC's David Willey in Rome says that such matters are an increasingly important subject of discussion in Church circles. [/FONT] [FONT size=3]According to insistent reports, Cardinal Martini was a close runner-up in last year's papal election. [/FONT]
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