Belgium: Cardinal Danneels Urges HIV-Positive People to Use Condoms

Despite the Vatican's opposition to the use of condoms as a way to prevent HIV/AIDS transmission, Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels -- seen as a possible successor to the pope -- urged HIV-positive people to use condoms if they have sex. Danneels told the Roman Catholic TV program Kruispunt in the Netherlands Sunday that an HIV-positive person having sex without a condom would be sinning against the fifth commandment -- "You shall not kill." The Vatican maintains that chastity is the best HIV/AIDS prevention method. "When someone is HIV-positive and his partner says 'I want to have [sexual] relations with you,' then he does not have to do it," said the Belgian archbishop. "But if he does, he has to use a condom. Otherwise he will commit a sin." Danneels, 70, is a leading voice in the European church and a moderate who has called for more democracy in the Catholic Church.

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