Spain’s Catholic Church acknowledged on Tuesday that condoms had a place in a broader strategy to halt the spread of AIDS, based primarily on sexual abstinence and fidelity.

In an apparent shift from traditional Church teachings, the spokesman for Spain’s Bishops’ Conference, Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, said there was scientific evidence that condoms could combat the propagation of the disease.

After meeting Health Minister Elena Salgado, the cleric said a recent study in medical journal the Lancet had supported an integrated approach to tackling AIDS, including the use of condoms and the practice of sexual restraint.

“The Church is very worried and interested by this problem, and its position is backed by scientific proposals such as the one published in the prestigious magazine the Lancet,” Martinez Camino said.

“The time has come, the Lancet magazine says, for a joint strategy in the prevention of such a tragic pandemic as AIDS, and contraception has a place in a global approach to tackling AIDS,” he said.

Official Roman Catholic teaching bans the use of condoms because they are a form of contraception. It teaches that abstinence - even among married couples if necessary - is the best way to stop the spread of AIDS.

The remarks by Martinez Camino avoided another clash between the Church and Spain’s Socialist government, which is promoting the use of condoms to fight AIDS.

The Church, which remains a powerful voice in Spain, has criticised the government for a new law allowing homosexual marriage as well as legislation to make divorce and abortion easier and permit stem cell research.

The Vatican has not issued a definitive statement on the use of condoms in limited cases to stop AIDS, but most Vatican officials who have spoken out on the issue are against campaigns promoting their use.

In November, the Vatican blamed the spread of AIDS on an “immunodeficiency” of moral values, among other factors, and called for education, abstinence and great access to drugs to fight the disease. Brussels Cardinal Godfried Danneels, touted as a possible successor to Pope John Paul, stirred surprise last week by saying he could reluctantly accept the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS.