What does the Roman Catholic Church really think about the use of condoms to fight AIDS? It seems to depend on who is doing the talking.
After Wednesday's about-face by Spain's Roman Catholic Church -- which first said condoms could have a role in anti-AIDS programs and then retracted the statement -- Catholics and non-Catholics alike can be forgiven for being a bit confused.
The comments by Bishop Juan Antonio Martinez Camino showed that the Church's overall position against the use of condoms can spark heated debate -- even within the Church.
Martinez Camino, speaking after a meeting with Spain's health minister, said contraception could have "a place in a global approach to tackling AIDS." His comments were splashed on the front pages of many world papers.
Nearly 24 hours later, under apparent Vatican pressure, the Spanish Church said there had been no relaxation in the rules and that the "use of condoms implies immoral sexual conduct."
In fact, there is no definitive Church position on condoms relating to their use to stop the spread of AIDS. No formal Vatican document, no dogma, no proclamation, has ever been issued on the topic which moral theologians are still debating.
"There is no blanket ban," said Father Brian Johnstone, moral theology professor at the Alphonsian Academy, a branch of the Pontifical Lateran University.
"The Church has never said that it is wrong in all possible situations. The complexity of the problem has to be taken into consideration, sometimes at a very local and personal level," he told Reuters.
EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE
The Spanish bishop appeared to fall foul of the Vatican by suggesting that condoms should have a fixed place in anti-AIDS programs whereas the Church teaches that they can be a rare exception to the general rule.
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Vatican department for health morals, has said anti-AIDS campaigns should not be "based on policies that foster immoral and hedonistic lifestyles ... favoring the spread of the evil."
Vatican officials have said they fear distributing condoms could worsen the situation by "institutionalising promiscuity."
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo went one further in 2003 by claiming the AIDS virus could sometimes slip through condoms.
The Church teaches that fidelity within heterosexual marriage, chastity and abstinence are the best ways to stop AIDS in a what one cardinal has called a "pan-sexualist society."
The "ban," enshrined in Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical Humane Vitae, relates only to condoms as contraceptive tools. As such, they are forbidden because they block the possible transmission of life in heterosexual activity.
But while some ultra conservatives say condoms should never be allowed, Barragan, Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels and moral theologians have said the "ban" on condoms was the general principle and there can be morally legitimate exceptions.
They have cited the example of an AIDS-infected husband who insists on having sex with his unaffected wife. In such a case, she has the moral right to use a condom to defend her life.
"This is one of those situations where it is morally permissible to choose the lesser of two evils," Johnstone said.
The Church's position against the general use of condoms to stop AIDS does not really relate to homosexuals.
"Homosexual activity is already considered immoral and sinful for the Church so the use of condoms to stop AIDS is a secondary question because the act should not be happening in the first place," Johnstone said.
If anything, Martinez Camino's apparent slip of the tongue, which made headlines from Madrid to Melbourne this week, showed that the condom question will not go away for the Church.