ROME, April 20 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI is likely to be even more rigid than his predecessor, the late John Paul II, on questions regarding the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS, gay rights activists said.
"The former positions taken by the Catholic Church had already prevented the use of condoms and helped the spread of AIDS," said Franco Grillini, a gay left-wing Italian lawmaker who is the honorary president of the gay rights group Arcigay. "We are very worried."
"This (new) pope has been violently homophobic," he told AFP by telephone from Bologna following the election of the arch-conservative German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 78, to succeed his friend and mentor John Paul II.
Arcigay president Sergio Lo Giudice added: "This pope has already taken more rigid positions than John Paul II."
He said the Church's opposition to condom use was practically set in stone, recalling an imbroglio early this year when the spokesman for Spain's Conference of Catholic Bishops, Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, said condoms could be used as part of the global effort to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Spanish Church officials and the Vatican swiftly set the record straight, saying the Roman Catholic Church remained opposed to the use of condoms, and explaining that the policy was ultimately aimed at discouraging fornication.
Yet the Church hierarchy offered no alternative method of fighting the deadly virus.
"The use of prophylactics is unacceptable even as a solution to the problem of AIDS, because the objective is the fight against fornication," said Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, the Vatican's health secretary.
"The sixth commandment says it clearly: do not fornicate. It's not a negative position. We are doing it to defend life," he said, while recognizing the right of a spouse whose husband has HIV/AIDS to demand that he use a condom.
Nearly 40 million people had AIDS or HIV as of the end of 2004, according to UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In South Africa, where some 25 million Africans are living with HIV and AIDS, Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu expressed hope that "the whole question of disease, HIV/AIDS particularly," would be addressed by the new pontiff, who should also "look again at the prohibition that the Church has placed on condoms."
"These have been shown to have been a very significant part of the campaign to combat this pandemic," said the Nobel peace prize winner.
Criticism also came from Marie Stopes International, a London-based organisation that promotes access to contraceptives and abortion.
"It looks like this particular cardinal will continue with the line on contraception, condoms, and HIV prevention that Pope John Paul II had. It's regrettable because that will impact so terribly on the lives of millions of people, particularly in the developing world," said spokesman Tony Kerrigan.
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