Is Pope Benedict merely a PR novice, or are his clumsy statements carefully calculated to appeal to conservatives?

If there is one leader on earth who ought to be sending out clear and unequivocal messages, then it is surely the pope. Yet, once again, the signals from Benedict and the Vatican this week have been oddly confusing. In his written clarification of the pope's remarks aboard the plane taking him to Africa, his spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, explained that the church's policy was to concentrate on educating people in sexual responsibility, and that it did not believe that "aiming essentially at the wider diffusion of condoms was really the best, most far-sighted or efficient way to combat Aids".

Now, if that is what...