First lady of France lets rip at the Pope

Carla Bruni, wife of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has said that the Catholic Church's attitudes to condoms in the fight against Aids in Africa has left her feeling "profoundly secular".

She caused uproar in religious circles in France last week when she said the Pope's remarks about condoms in Africa were 'damaging'.

Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy said: "I was born Catholic, I was baptised, but in my life I feel profoundly secular. I find that the controversy coming from the Pope's message – albeit distorted by the media – is very damaging. In Africa it's often Church people who look after sick people. It's astonishing to see the difference between the theory and the reality."

She said: "I think the Church should evolve on this issue. It presents the condom as a contraceptive which, incidentally, it forbids, although it is the only existing protection," she told Femme Actuelle, the women's magazine. Her husband wrote in a 2005 book The Republic, Religions and Hope: "I acknowledge myself as a member of the Catholic Church", even if his religious practice was "periodic".

When he visited the Pope in Rome shortly after his election in 2007, he left his then girlfriend Miss Bruni – a single, unmarried mother – in Paris to avoid 'embarrassment'. After becoming Mr Sarkozy's third wife last year, Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy has campaigned against the spread of Aids in Africa.

Her opinions about the Pope's regressive attitudes to condoms are widely shared in France. An opinion poll in March revealed that some 43 per cent of French Catholics wanted the Pontiff to step down. However, it wasn't long before the Pope's media mafia were on the case and rubbishing Madame Bruni.