Your correspondent Diane Flexman (Claire and the Pope, Have Your Say, October 15) questions your editorial wisdom in printing the late Claire Rayner’s views on Joseph Ratzinger.

To sum up, Claire found his views abhorrent.

In May 2005, shortly after taking office, the Pope made his first pronouncement on Aids, and he took the opportunity to come out against condoms.

He was addressing bishops from South Africa, where somebody dies of Aids every two minutes; Botswana, where 23.9 per cent of adults between 15 and 49 are HIV positive; Swaziland, where 26.1 per cent of adults have HIV; Namibia (a trifling 15 per cent); and Lesotho, 23 per cent.

It’s not just him. In 2007, Archbishop Francisco Chimoio of Mozambique claimed that European condom manufacturers were deliberately infecting condoms with HIV to spread Aids in Africa.

It was cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo of Colombia who most famously claimed that the HIV virus can pass through tiny holes in condoms. How can such otherwise intelligent and (supposedly) caring people reconcile what they profess with their conscience?

I’d much rather listen to Claire Rayner’s opinion any day.

At least her comments didn’t kill anyone!

RIP Claire – you will be missed.

Mike Chalkley, Cowper Road, Bournemouth