Pope Benedict XVI was greeted by protests upon his arrival to the Vatican, following his comments against contraception during his trip to Africa.

While speaking to reporters on his flight to Africa last week the Pope said that distributing condoms in Africa was not the solution to the Aids pandemic, and could even make the spread of the disease worse. Instead the Pope said that faithfulness in marriage was the answer.

The Pope’s comments were widely condemned by activists and by a number of governments.

However Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of the Italian Bishops Conference said that the attacks on the Pope were “offensive and unacceptable”, reports the Times Online.

The Cardinal added that attacks on the Pope had already gone “beyond common sense” before his comments on abortion because of the row surrounding the reinstatement of Richard Williamson, the excommunicated bishop who denied the full extent of the Holocaust.

Cardinal Bagnasco said the Pope had been “vulgarly mocked” by the global media for his belief that contraception would not halt the spread of Aids.

Approximately one hour before the Pope returned to the Vatican from his Africa trip, gay rights and atheist groups staged a protest against him from Italian territory.

A spokesman for Italian gay rights group Mario Mieli, said, "The Pope's extremely serious and irresponsible words are even further removed from reality when we consider that condoms are unanimously and scientifically recognised as the principal means of Aids prevention."