Vatican rejects censure of pope on condoms

By Phil Stewart

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican on Friday rejected a resolution passed by the Belgian parliament condemning Pope Benedict for saying that the use of condoms could worsen the spread of AIDS.

The pope's controversial remarks last month have provoked widespread criticism in the press and by health officials and politicians in Europe, but the Belgian move was the first time a country had ordered a diplomatic protest against the Vatican.

The resolution passed by the Belgian parliament late on Thursday called on the Belgian envoy to the Vatican to lodge a protest over the pontiff's "unacceptable" comments.

It ordered the government to "react strongly against any state or organisation that in the future brings into doubt the benefit of using condoms to prevent transmission of the AIDS virus."

Chief Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said he was shocked.

"(It's) astonishing, given that it appears obvious in any democratic state that the Holy Father and the Church are free to express their own positions," he said.

At the start of his first trip to Africa on March 17, Benedict said AIDS "cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, they increase the problem."

The comments led to unprecedented condemnations in editorials in the New York Times, the Washington Post and many other publications, and a storm of criticism by health officials and politicians in a number of countries.