VATICAN - Church's missionary commitment to leprosy patients worldwide

Saturday, 30 January 2010

VATICAN

2024-04-19
The Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization to the diocesan directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies: “'The mission is mine, not yours,' said the Lord to Saint Francis”

2024-04-13
A new training course for the diocesan directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Rome

2024-04-11
Pontifical Yearbook, the title of "Patriarch of the West": Pope claims honorary title again

2024-03-27
Pope Francis to Catholics in the Holy Land: in these bleak times, participate in the Passion of Christ and bear witness that "the crucified Lord rose from the dead"

2024-03-15
Pope Francis: Only the real encounter with Jesus frees us from the temptation to "make faith a theory"

2024-03-04
Resignation of Bishop of Cochin

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The 57th World Leprosy Day which is celebrated Sunday, January 31, draws attention to this disease, which is now treatable, and calls for us to solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are affected by it. The missionary Church has a long tradition of service to these patients, often abandoned even by their own families and has always provided them, in addition to medical and spiritual assistance, concrete opportunities for recovery and reintegration into society. Discrimination against these patients is still serious in many countries, on account of its allegedly being incurable and for the terrible mutilation it causes.
According to figures provided by the most recently published Statistical Yearbook of the Church, the Church operates 521 leprosy colonies in the world. The breakdown by continent, in brackets, indicating the nation with the largest number of centers, is: Africa: 186 (DR Congo 31); America: 38 (total), Central/North America: 4 (Mexico), Central America Antilles: 7 (Haiti 4), South America: 27 (Brazil 12); Asia: 293 (India 220); Europe: 3 (Italy, Belgium, Spain); Oceania: 1 (Papua New Guinea). (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 30/1/2010)