Kochi (Fides Service) – People with AIDS are our brothers and sisters: we must accept them and care for them with love, respect and mercy, said Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, Archbishop Major of Ernakulam-Angamaly in a recent Pastoral Letter on the question of AIDS. The Cardinal leads the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in Kerala, India.
In the Letter the Cardinal recalls that AIDS has spread to become a world wide scourge affecting 42 million people, 4,5 million in India alone. Considering the fact that the numbers of AIDS patients in hospitals in Kerala continue to rise the Cardinal points out that “more people in our parishes may become infected or die of HIV/AIDS”. While stressing the need for prudence and prevention the Cardinal calls on Catholics not to be afraid, not to isolate family or parish members because the means of contagion are known to all: blood, body fluids, drug abuse and in the first place sexual relations .
The letter recalls that sexual relations the main means of transmitting AIDS and it urges married couples to be faithful. It mentions another cause of infection is drugs, an evil which afflicts mainly the younger members of society.
The Cardinal quotes the Book of Deuteronomy where God puts man before good and evil (Dt 30,15) and he urges the people to choose good: “Christians are called to reject sin but welcome sinners. We must follow the example of Christ, who showed mercy to prostitutes and lepers. In fact the Church does not look at people with AIDS as sinners. We must not forget that Christ said ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor but the sick. I desire not sacrifices but mercy. (Mt 9, 13)”.
The letter emphasises the Church’s commitment to assisting people with HIV-AIDS: “At the world level one quarter of anti-AIDS initiatives are organised or run by the Catholic Church. In India 4.745 church run hospitals and dispensaries care for people with AIDS. Moreover the Church in India has 39 institutes which specialise in treatment for HIV/AIDS ”.
“If members of our parish or family become infected we must show them love and mercy and offer all the help we can. A person found to be HIV positive can live for years and may never contract AIDS. Those critically ill must be given, with all the necessary attention, the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick”. Prudence must not become discrimination: “Remembering the words of Jesus ‘I was sick and you visited me (Mt 25,36), we must help every person who suffers” the Cardinal said.
“The Christian community – the Letter concludes– should see sickness as an opportunity to live the Christian spirit, to promote social justice and perform works of mercy ”.
(PA) (Fides Service 30/1/2004 lines 46 words 506)