…what others are reporting. And we know how these things work, especially with translating European news sources.  But here’s the story:

The Vatican is expected to permit the use of condoms for AIDS patients, according to an interview with a high-ranking cardinal published Sunday.

The Vatican is currently working on a document on the subject that would be published soon, Vatican ‘Health Minister’ Javier Lozano Baragan said in an interview with the Italian daily La Repubblica.

The Roman Catholic Church has up till now strictly prohibited the use of condoms even in marriage for AIDS patients and HIV-infected people.

Observers in Rome suggest that a Curial cardinal such as Baragan could only make a statement on a such a sensitive theme when it had been first agreed upon with Pope Benedict XVI.

‘It is a very difficult and delicate topic,’ said Baragan, considered a close confidant of the pope. ‘It was Benedict who demanded an examination of this special question of the use of condoms by AIDS patients.’

However the cardinal did not provide details on the Vatican’s new rules

I find nothing posted at La Repubblica yet

Barragan is president of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers and former Bishop of Zacatecas, Mexico.

Update:  I’m closing off the thread for now, for as I said, this story is based on an interview that’s not online yet – I hate to have people spending a lot of time debating something that might turn out to be nothing. So when something new appears, come back here to discuss.