Some Catholic
bishops begin to call for condom use

Catholic bishops in the island nation of Papua New Guinea are beginning to break with the church's longtime ban on condom use and are beginning to recommend their use by HIV-positive people, the Australian Associated Press reports.

"We also have a law: You should not kill," Bishop Gilles Cote of the Daru-Kiunga diocese told the news agency. "If you are infected and you have sex, then you don't protect yourself, you will give the sickness to the other one. So there's a moral responsibility that they are protected."

Cote added that he still does not endorse condom use by all Catholics--only those who are at risk of infecting others.

Not all church leaders are breaking ranks with the Vatican on the condom issue, however. Bishop Francesco Sarego, president of Papua New Guinea's Catholic Bishops Conference, say Catholics must adhere to the church's ban on condoms. "Faithfulness in marriage protects families from destruction," he told the Australian AP.

About 80,000 of Papua New Guinea's 4 million people are believed to be HIV-positive. (The Advocate)