Cardinal Pell backed the Pope's recent comments that condoms are contributing to the spread of AIDS.
Pope Benedict sparked outrage in March when he said condoms are aggravating the African epidemic rather than containing it.
Cardinal Pell told Sky News this morning that condoms encourage promiscuity and irresponsibility.
"The idea that you can solve a great spiritual and health crisis like AIDS with a few mechanical contraptions like condoms is ridiculous," he said.
"If you look at a country like the Philippines, which is Catholic, the infection rate with AIDS is much lower there than it is in Thailand, which is awash with condoms.
Doctors have responded angrily to comments by Sydney's Catholic Archbishop that condoms have aggravated the spread of AIDS.
The president of the Australasian Society for HIV medicine, Doctor Jonathan Anderson, says there is no scientific basis to support the statements.
"These comments are potentially damaging in that while most people will ignore them as being the pronouncements of a man who really doesn't know what he's talking about, there could be a few people who'd say 'well if the Pope and George Pell tell me it's okay not to use condoms then I'm going to continue not to use condoms'," he said.
Dr Anderson says Catholic countries do not necessarily have a lower rate of infection."There are many countries around the world that have a very high number of Catholics, like Brazil and Spain, and also unfortunately have high rates of HIV," he said.
"So I think he's picking his countries and claiming it's due to high rates of Catholicism and I think that's not necessarily very good science."
He says condoms do not promote promiscuity.
"It's very normal for people to want to have sex and there's no evidence that programs that promote abstinence are effective in preventing HIV or sexually transmitted infections," he said.
"The converse is there's no evidence that the provision of condoms and other forms of family planning do anything to promote promiscuity."
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