Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, the man in charge of leading the attack on same-sex marriage and use of condoms to fight HIV/AIDS died Monday in a Rome hospital. He was 72.
A hardliner who was president of the Pontifical Council for the Family Trujillo frequently spoke out against the legalization of same-sex marriage and criticized governments in those countries that passed marriage equality legislation.
In 2006 under his direction the Pontifical Council issued a 57-page document in which it said the traditional family has never been so threatened as in today's world. It also lashed out against contraception, abortion and in-vitro fertilization.
Following the document's release the Cardinal said that if countries continue to liberalize laws on homosexuality Catholic Church leaders could be prosecuted.
"`We worry especially that, with current laws, speaking in defense of life and the rights of families is becoming in some societies sort of a crime against the state,'' Trujillo told the Roman Catholic newsmagazine Famiglia Cristiana.
"The church is at risk of being brought before some international court if the debate becomes any tenser, if the more radical requests get heard,'' the cardinal said.
Trujillo, a Colombian was considered a possible papal candidate after Pope John Paul II died in 2005. He also made headlines in 2003 when he said condoms did not prevent AIDS and may help spread it by creating a false sense of security. Trujillo said that HIV can easily pass through condoms and using them was "a form of Russian roulette'' in fighting AIDS.
The World Health Organization issued an immediate statement saying that condoms were 90 percent effective when used properly.
A hardliner who was president of the Pontifical Council for the Family Trujillo frequently spoke out against the legalization of same-sex marriage and criticized governments in those countries that passed marriage equality legislation.
In 2006 under his direction the Pontifical Council issued a 57-page document in which it said the traditional family has never been so threatened as in today's world. It also lashed out against contraception, abortion and in-vitro fertilization.
Following the document's release the Cardinal said that if countries continue to liberalize laws on homosexuality Catholic Church leaders could be prosecuted.
"`We worry especially that, with current laws, speaking in defense of life and the rights of families is becoming in some societies sort of a crime against the state,'' Trujillo told the Roman Catholic newsmagazine Famiglia Cristiana.
"The church is at risk of being brought before some international court if the debate becomes any tenser, if the more radical requests get heard,'' the cardinal said.
Trujillo, a Colombian was considered a possible papal candidate after Pope John Paul II died in 2005. He also made headlines in 2003 when he said condoms did not prevent AIDS and may help spread it by creating a false sense of security. Trujillo said that HIV can easily pass through condoms and using them was "a form of Russian roulette'' in fighting AIDS.
The World Health Organization issued an immediate statement saying that condoms were 90 percent effective when used properly.
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