Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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The Associated Press - Thursday November 16, 1989
"It is morally illicit to champion a prevention of the AIDS sickness based on recourse to means and remedies that violate the authentically human sense of sexuality," the pope said.
Although he did not mention the word "condoms," church officials said it was clear he was ruling out their use as a means of checking the spread of AIDS. That position was expressed repeatedly by speakers during the conference.
The pope's speech, delivered to more than 1,000 scientists, theologians, church officials and health-care workers, provided his most extensive comments on what he called "the scourge of AIDS."
In the past, John Paul has expressed his solidarity with those suffering from the deadly disease, but yesterday the pope for the first time addressed the causes of AIDS and the related moral and sexual issues.
"In its heart, the church not only pronounces a series of 'no's' to certain types of behavior but especially proposes a lifestyle that is wholly significant for the person," the pope said in the closing address of a three-day Vatican conference on AIDS.
John Paul noted that AIDS can often be attributed to the "phenomena of drug addiction and abuse of sexuality."
"The necessary prevention against the threat of AIDS is not inspired by fear but instead by the choice of a healthy, free and responsible lifestyle," he said.
Earlier, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Redfield, chief of AIDS research at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, said that between 200 and 500 U.S. military personnel have died from the disease in the past six years and more than 5,000 have the virus.
Redfield said 1,500 people in the three branches of the U.S. armed forces contract the HIV virus annually.
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