Awards for encouraging condom use

A WELL-KNOWN Catholic organisation has given awards to two cardinals and a number of bishops who have gone against the Vatican and agreed people threatened with AIDS can use condoms.

Catholics for a Free Choice made their Good Shepherd Awards to mark World AIDS Day as part of their Condoms4Life campaign.

They described as lost sheep a number of senior clergy, including two cardinals, for spreading wrong information about condoms.

The Catholic Church is the single largest institution in the world providing direct AIDS care. An estimated 26% of centres in the world dedicated to treating the disease are affiliated to the Church, whose official policy is that using condoms is a sin.

President of US-based Catholics for a Free Choice, Frances Kissling, said: “Those who seek services from a Catholic provider are unlikely to receive adequate information about condoms or access to condoms as a means of preventing transmission of the disease.”

The awards were made to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Westminster, Bishop Kevin Dowling of South Africa, Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, tipped as a contender for the papacy, and 11 bishops in India.

Bishop Dowling works in a region with a 47% HIV/AIDS infection rate.