Reflecting on 25 years

Does the Catholic Church need to reach out to Europeans?

In a HARDtalk interview on 16 October, the BBC's Lyse Doucet and senior British Catholic, Lord David Alton of Liverpool, assess Pope John Paul II's achievements on the 25th anniversary of his papacy.

The European Values Survey of 1999 found that only 20 percent of Europeans think religion is important.

However, Lord Alton says Catholicism has a very strong following around the globe.

"The number of Catholics worldwide has increased; the number of priests worldwide has increased," he told HARDtalk.

"Yes, the European dimension is important. The Catholic Church has to reach out in new ways to evangelise."

He denied that major social issues such as celibacy were not on the Church's agenda.

"This isn't true. The issue of celibacy has been left as an open question. It's only a rule."

Newly appointed Cardinal, the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, the Most Rev Keith O'Brien, says that celibacy should "wither away".

Lord Alton says: "He hasn't made his mind up on this issue and his successor will have to decide on this issue."

On abortion, Lord Alton says the Church should examine such contentious issues.

"Why shouldn't we look at issues like that?"

Aids

How the Church approaches the issue of HIV/Aids has drawn criticism.

Twenty million people in Africa have died by Aids.

The Catholic Church does not permit its followers to use condoms which could prevent the spread of Aids.

One of the Church's most senior figures Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo said in a BBC Panorama programme: "The Aids virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the 'net' that is formed by the condom."

Catherine Hankins is the chief scientific advisor of UN Aids.

She says the statements are "totally incorrect".

"Latex condoms are impermeable. They do prevent HIV transmission," she says.

Lord Alton praises Uganda's HIV prevention model known as "ABC" - or abstinence, be faithful, use condoms.

HARDtalk can be seen on BBC World at 03:30 GMT, 08:30 GMT, 11:30 GMT, 15:30 GMT, 18:30 GMT and 22:30 GMT

It can also be seen on BBC News 24 at 03:30 and 23:30