BY CECILIA BROMLEY-MAR1 IN
A CONTROVERSIAL poster, which depicts a hard-hatted Pope beseeching people to wear a condom, has been dropped by the British Safety Council (BSC).
The decision to pull the poster, which advertised National Condom
Week, follows widespread criticism of the BSC from Catholics. BSC director James Tye told the Catholic Herald this week that he "understood the upset that was caused. In view of the number of angry calls we have received from Catholics, we will be issuing no further posters".
Cardinal Hume was one attic main opponents of the handbill. In a letter to Dr Douglas Latto, Chairman of the British Safety Council, the Cardinal said the poster was a "totally unacceptable" way to seek publicity for their campaign, and an inappropriate use of charitable funds.
He added that the advertisement, was "deliberately and gratuitously offensive to the Catholic community".
In a reply to the Cardinal's letter, the BSC said that 500,000 people contract sexually transmitted diseases every year, and 10,000 people have died from AIDS since 1982.
Until a better solution was found, the letter added, the only answer lay in the use of a condom.