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June 6, 2006
Vatican Issues Sweeping Condemnations

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:27 a.m. ET

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican issued a sweeping condemnation Tuesday of contraception, abortion, in-vitro fertilization and same-sex marriage, declaring that the traditional family has never been so threatened as in today's world.

The document was issued by the Pontifical Council for the Family, whose head, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, is a strong opponent of the use of condoms under any circumstances.

However, the document did not mention an ongoing debate within the Vatican on whether the Roman Catholic Church could permit condoms to battle AIDS in a particular circumstance -- when one partner in a marriage has the virus.

The Vatican insists sexual abstinence is the only sure way to fight AIDS.

The document made a broad attack on what it said were threats to the ''the natural institution of marriage.''

# posted by the Editor on Tuesday, June 06, 2006