Following the polemic in the Spanish Catholic Church over the use of condoms in combating AIDS, the Pope John Paul II urged believers to defend the Christian way of life when the Archbishop of Madrid and a group of Spanish bishops visited the Vatican recently.

The Pope made his remarks in the wake of the controversial comment made by the Spanish Catholics Bishops’ Conference last week, which stated that "condoms have a place in a global approach to tackling AIDS". One day later, the Spanish church officials and the Vatican swiftly set the record straight, saying the Roman Catholic Church remained opposed to the use of condoms.

The Roman Catholic Church insisted that abstinence and fidelity within marriage, and not condoms, were the best way to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The Pope asked Catholics to reach deep within their faith "to give credible and public witness to the defence of a respect for life in its every phase; to defend the religious education of their children, to protect the sanctity of marriage and family and to defend the name of God and the human and social values of the Christian religion."

Additionally, the Pope has raised his further concern over the declining morality in Spain since a series of liberalisation legislative measures on life and family related issues were carried out by the Socialist government.

The Church has clashed with the government on religious education, gay marriage, abortion, and most recently the role of condoms in preventing the spread of AIDS.

The Pope backs Madrid's Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela who described the Spanish capital as a "hotbed of sin" during a radio interview Sunday.

"For a while now they have disregarded any reference to the will of God when it comes to deciding the future of society," the Pope criticised the government.

The Pope warned against the government’s initiatives to make religious education in public schools voluntary by allowing students to replace a religion with a civics course. That will mean that the new generations of Spaniards were growing up in a climate of religious indifference and ignorant of their country's rich Christian spiritual traditions.