Vatican backtracks on Pope’s remarks

The concept of papal infallibility has always required a certain suspension of disbelief. But Pope Benedict XVI has pushed the principle to its breaking point with his claim during a trip to Africa that condom distribution is aggravating the scourge of AIDS. Yesterday, the Vatican backtracked on the remarks, and tried to soften their impact by publishing an edited text, in which His Holiness allegedly said condoms "risk" worsening the problem. Uh uh, say reporters and others who heard the statement. Factor in Benedict’s controversial remarks about Islam, his attempt to restore an ex-communicated bishop who doesn’t believe in the Holocaust and a variety of ill-advised remarks about gender roles and homosexuality and we have what may go down as the most gaffe-prone pontiffs of the modern era.

The Times