And the hits just keep on coming, as the Pope makes his way around Latin America Pope Francis indicated contraceptives may be used to prevent the spread of the Zika virus, despite the church s longstanding ban on most forms of birth control.His comments may cheer health officials in Latin America but are likely to upset conservative Catholics.At a press conference aboard a flight from Mexico to Rome on Thursday, the Pope was asked if the church should consider contraception the  lesser of two evils  compared with the possibility of women aborting fetuses infected with Zika. The virus has been linked to an incurable and often devastating neurological birth defect.The Pope answered by calling abortion an  absolute evil  and a  crime. It is to kill someone in order to save another. This is what the Mafia does,  Francis said.  On the other hand, avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil. The Pope then pointed to a narrow exception to the church s ban on most forms of birth control: His predecessor, Pope Paul VI, allowed African nuns to use contraceptives  in cases of rape, Francis said. He did not explain why and what forms of birth control were used. In certain cases   such as the one I mentioned of Blessed Paul VI, it was clear,  the Pope said. It was Paul VI who wrote  Humanae Vitae,  the papal document that solidified the church s stance against almost every form of birth control in 1968. The church does allow natural family planning, which involves a woman monitoring her basal body temperature and vaginal secretions to avoid having sex at fertile times of the month.It s not entirely clear what the chances are that a pregnant woman who contracts Zika will have a baby with microcephaly. Babies with the defect have small heads and abnormal brain growth and often have developmental delays, seizures, problems with movement and speech and other issues.On Thursday, the World Health Organization called for access to emergency contraception and counseling for women who  have had unprotected sex and do not wish to become pregnant because of concern with infection with Zika virus. But the Catholic catechism states that aside from natural family planning, anything that works to  render procreation impossible  is intrinsically evil.  The church s teachings have put women in Latin America, where a majority of people are Catholic, in a difficult situation.In December, authorities in Brazil urged women not to get pregnant. Then last month came the warning from Colombia to delay pregnancy until July. Then in an interview, a health official in El Salvador recommended that women  try to avoid getting pregnant this year and the next. But the Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, has said that birth control is wrong, no matter what.  That prohibition doesn t change based on circumstances,  he said.  So couples have a responsibility to live according to the church s teachings in whatever circumstances they find themselves. Via: CNN 