VATICAN CITY (CNS): Pope Benedict XVI called on the international community to increase efforts to find a cure for HIV/AIDS and to protect people infected by the virus from discrimination.
The Pope made the appeal at the end of his Angelus on November 26 in St Peter’s Square to mark World AIDS Day on December 1.
Nearly 40 million adults and children are living with HIV, and new infections are on the rise in many countries, according to a recent report by the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organisation.
This year 4.3 million people have contracted the virus and 2.9 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses, the report said.
Pope Benedict said he hoped World AIDS Day would promote a greater sense of “responsibility in curing the disease as well as in the commitment to avoid all discrimination against those who have been hit” by the virus that causes the disease.
In a separate address, the Pope called for all people struggling with infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, to be treated with love and respect.
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who is head of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, which sponsored the conference, said the weakening or non-existence of public health care was one of the many factors fuelling unnecessary deaths caused by infectious illnesses.
