April 20, 2008 10:00pm

COLOMBIAN Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, has died in Rome from a chest infection, hospital officials said.

 The 72-year-old had been the Vatican's family minister since 1990 and defended the Roman Catholic Church's staunch opposition to the use of condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS and to abortion, likening the pill to "chemical warfare".