Rayong (Fides Service) - “In our small community at the Camillian Centre we always pray for the Pope and remember that he is lives human suffering, the same suffering which we see and live every day, with an intensity that gives it that value which purifies us from sin and enables us to share the suffering of others.”
Following the admittance to hospital of Pope John Paul II, Camillian Father Giovanni Contarin director of the Camillian Social Centre in Rayong sent this comment to Fides.
“In this mainly Buddhist country the media have never given much space or importance to news about the Pope or the Vatican. In all these twenty years that I have been on mission in Thailand, only now I hear TV and radio speak about the Pope, about his health. In the past two months I have heard the Pope mentioned in the media at least a dozen times. This is certainly a sign of new openness...and a space for evangelisation. The Holy Father’s difficulty with old age, sickness and suffering makes him all the more loved, just as he is.”
The Camillian Social Centre in Rayong is situated about 200 km from the capital Bangkok, in south east Thailand. It is one of a number of Camillian centres in Thailand which provide assistance to people with AIDS. In Thailand least one million people are HIV+ and of these over 100,000 have full blown AIDS. (AP) (26/2/2005 Agenzia Fides; Righe:22; Parole:253)