AUSTRALIA'S largest Catholic health service is distributing condoms in Victorian prisons despite the Church officially frowning on contraception and sex outside of marriage.
St Vincent's Health has been contracted by the Department of Justice to distribute condoms and dental dams to prisoners at Dhurringile and Marngoneet men's prisons and the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre and Tarrengower women's prison.
The program is being run by the Catholic health agency after prison staff refused because of occupational health and safety concerns.
Both St Vincent's Health and the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne declined questions about the program and released a short statement describing it as a "Justice Health initiative designed to reduce transmission of disease".
Last year Australia's most senior Catholic, Archbishop George Pell issued a clarifying statement after Pope Benedict XVI comments about male prostitutes using condoms were interpreted as a softening of the church's stance on the issue.
"Pope Benedict insisted on speaking on the basic Christian and Catholic teaching on sexual activity: that such sexual activity is to be confined to the love making between husband and wife. He urges abstinence from premarital and extra-marital sex and fidelity within marriage," Archbishop Pell said.
"This is a delicate and difficult area, sometimes producing tragic consequences. I have not seen the German original of what the Pope said, but hard and exceptional cases can encourage bad law making."