World Day of the Sick to focus on AIDS
The 13th World Day of the Sick will be celebrated tomorrow at the Shrine of Mary Queen of the Apostles in Mvolye, Cameroon on the theme: Jesus Christ, Hope for Africa. Youth, Health and AIDS. Yesterday the Holy Father's special envoy to those celebrations, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, opened the meeting which traditionally precedes the world day. Archbishop Victor Tonye Bakot of Yaounde, Cameroon, president of the Cameroon Episcopal Conference, and President Paul Biya of Cameroon also addressed the assembly. Each day of the three-day meeting will look at the theme from a different perspective: pastoral, scientific-doctrinal and liturgical. Cardinal Lozano's talk was entitled "The Pastoral Ministry of Health. What Must Be." Today participants will examine AIDS from both spiritual and scientific angles, and will trace the programs laid out by the Universal Church to accompany those who have AIDS. Tomorrow, which is the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the World Day of the Sick, the participants, after a visit to Catholic hospitals in the area, will gather at the shrine in the afternoon for a special and anointing service. Source: VIS