The Italian Catholic Church today berated the French government for "presuming" to lecture Pope Benedict XVI on Aids and condoms, saying that as a former colonial power, France was in no position to "give lessons".

However an opinion polls in La Repubblica said that a majority of Italians also disagreed with the Pope's stand. The poll said that 52.3 per cent were "absolutely against" the Pope's view - which overshadowed his trip to Africa last week - that condoms are not the answer to the Aids epidemic and on the contrary only "aggravate" it by encouraging sexual promiscuity.

A further 21.2 per cent in the poll, conducted by Demos & Pi, said they were "fairly" opposed to the Pope's position, making a total of 73.5 per cent. Only 4.6 per cent said they were "absolutely" in agreement with Benedict, and 15 per cent said they were "fairly" in agreement, making a total of 19.6 per cent. The remaining 6.9 per cent said they had no firm view.

Ilvo Diamanti, a leading sociologist, said that Italians generally looked to the Catholic Church as a "moral compass", especially in "difficult times". This was not the case however when positions taken by the Church or the Vatican were seen as "different from the common consensus or the practical experiences of daily life".

This week the French government said it did not want to "enter into controversy with the Pope", but repeated earlier warnings that his statement on condoms "could well have dramatic consequences on public health." A French Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: "We never claimed that condoms are the only solution to the problem - there are others such as medical assistance, social assistance, tests to identify presence of the virus, and psychological support. But condoms are a part of the solution and any argument to the contrary, especially when made by a person with such vast influence, goes against the best interest of public health".

When Pope Benedict returned to Rome on Monday he received warm support from Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and head of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), who said the pontiff had been unjustly "mocked and insulted".

Today Avvenire, the newspaper of the CEI, said Paris had no right to "give lessons" to the Pope. French strictures were "presumptuous" coming from a former colonial power, which in Africa and the southern hemisphere had always sought to act as "the master".

Opinion polls in France during the trip suggested that many French Catholics were critical of the Pope, and some even thought he should step down. There were demonstrations and scuffles outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after mass last Sunday, leading to eleven arrests.

On the plane home from Angola on Monday Pope Benedict thanked the journalists who had accompanied him for their reporting, but did not mention the controversy in the global media over the condoms issue. He said he had felt a "great sense of family and respect for the sacred" during his trip.

"I was particularly struck by two things: an impression of friendliness, of almost exuberant joy, Africa in celebration; and it seemed to me that in the Pope they saw the personification of the fact that we are a family of God. I was impressed by the spirit of concentration in the liturgy and a strong sense of the sacred".

He repeated his sadness at the deaths of two girls trampled before the start of a papal youth rally in Luanda, adding, "Let us pray for them and hope that in the future things are organised so that this will no longer happen". The Pope's next foreign trip is to the Holy Land in May.

The Pope, 81, did not hold his usual weekly audience today. Officials said no audience had been scheduled because he was recovering after the journey to Africa.