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AIDS Groups, Gay Activists Dismayed over New Pope

Wednesday, April 20

ROME (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI is likely to be even more rigid than his predecessor, the late John Paul II, on questions regarding the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS, gay rights activists said.

"The former positions taken by the Catholic Church had already prevented the use of condoms and helped the spread of AIDS," said Franco Grillini, a gay left-wing Italian lawmaker who is the honorary president of the gay rights group Arcigay. "We are very worried."

"This (new) pope has been violently homophobic," he told AFP by telephone from Bologna following the election of the arch-conservative German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 78, to succeed his friend and mentor John Paul II.

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