Condom study passes to the CDF

THE VATICAN'S office for health care has concluded a study on the use of condoms in the fight against Aids, and a longawaited report on the findings is now being examined by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a senior cardinal said on Tuesday.
But the prelate gave no indication of the position the study takes or when a final pronouncement might be made, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who heads the Vatican office for health care, told a news conference on infectious diseases that the document was drafted with the help of scientists, theologians and other experts.
"We have prepared a detailed study on condoms from both the scientific and moral points of view and we have passed our study on to the Congregation for the Faith," Cardinal Barragan said. "Now the dossier is being studied by that office and then it will go before the Pope."
Cardinal Barragan said that Pope Benedict XVI is "greatly concerned" by the issue and that the dossier was prepared at his request. The Church opposes the use of condoms as part of its overall teaching against contraception.