Vatican No. 2 urges AIDS cure, sidesteps condom

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican’s No. 2 official has called for universal, free access to drugs to combat HIV and for investments into finding a cure.

But Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, made no mention of condoms in a speech Friday at an international AIDS conference in Rome. And he made no explicit reference to the Vatican’s traditional position that the best way to prevent HIV transmission is to abstain from sex before marriage and remain faithful within marriage.