Free Republic

'POPE WHO NEVER WAS' SHOWS HOW CLOSE  MAJOR CHANGE CAN COME TO THE PAPACYIt may be just smoke. Or it may be Benedict's first big test. The issue is condoms -- whether the Church can allow them in unusual cases, in order to save lives -- and it was all kick-started by a prominent  Cardinal who many had on their short lists of papal candidates.It showed how close the Church can come to leadership by a pontiff with views at strong variance with current policy.When Time Magazine speculated on a successor to John Paul II, this former archbishop of Milan,...

VATICAN, April 24, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini's stunning interview-dialogue, in an Italian weekly last week, which contradicted Church teaching on abortion, in vitro fertilization and condoms, came two weeks after Pope Benedict praised the dissident Cardinal.  Speaking to youth of Rome on April 6, in preparation for the diocesan-level World Youth Day, the Pope recommended they read the writings of Cardinal Martini on the Scriptures.LifeSiteNews.com reported Friday that the retired Archbishop of Milan, a favourite of liberal dissidents within the Catholic Church, contradicted Church teaching on abortion, calling the current situation of legal abortion "good" or "positive" in...

ROME (Reuters) - The Vatican will soon publish a statement on the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS, an issue highlighted by a call from a leading cardinal to ease its ban on them, a Catholic Church official said. Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, the head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, declined to reveal the contents of the document in an interview published in Sunday's la Repubblica newspaper, but said Pope Benedict had asked his department to study the issue. The former archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, who was standard bearer for...