ROME, April 21 (UPI)

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, the Vatican’s leading voice in defense of family values, has died in Rome at the age of 72.

The Vatican says the cardinal had been hospitalized for several weeks for treatment of complications from diabetes when he suffered cardiac arrest, The New York Times reported Monday.

A native of Colombia, Trujillo served as president of the Pontifical Council for the Family and spoke against abortion, contraception and gay marriage.

He often expressed views on sexual issues that drew criticism. In 2003 the World Health Organization took issue with his statement that condoms don’t prevent the spread of AIDS because the virus that causes it can “easily pass through.” WHO responded by saying that condoms were 90 percent effective when used properly.

Trujillo held a doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.

As the former head of the Latin American Bishops’ Council, he was considered a possible papal candidate after Pope John Paul II died in 2005, the Times said.

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