Belgian cardinal differentiates moral levels for condom use

Published: 2004-01-13

ROME (CNS)-- Using condoms to prevent a life-threatening disease such as HIV/AIDS is not on the same moral level as using them for birth control, said a Belgian cardinal. "Someone who is infected with the HIV virus and decides to have sex with an uninfected person has to protect his partner by using a condom," said Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Mechelen-Brussels. Speaking on the Dutch Catholic television program "Kruispunt" Jan. 11, he said that sexual activity is confined morally to the boundaries of marriage between a man and a woman and that abstinence is morally correct and safe in offering protection against HIV infection. But, Cardinal Danneels said, "If a person infected with HIV has decided to not respect abstinence, then he has to protect his partner and he can do that -- in this case -- by using a condom."

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