.- This morning, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, opened the traditional preceding meetings for the World Day of the Sick, which will be celebrated on February 11th.
The 13th annual World Day of the Sick will take place this year at the Shrine of Mary Queen of the Apostles in Mvolye, Cameroon on the theme "Jesus Christ, Hope for Africa. Youth, Health and AIDS."
Archbishop Victor Tonye Bakot of Yaounde, Cameroon, president of the Cameroon Episcopal Conference, and President Paul Biya of Cameroon also addressed the assembly today.
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.” Tomorrow, February 10, participants will examine the AIDS problem from both spiritual and scientific angles, and will trace the programs laid out by the Universal Church to accompany those who have AIDS.
On Friday, February 11, the liturgical feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the World Day of the Sick, participants will visit Catholic hospitals in the area and gather at the shrine in the afternoon.
The Eucharistic celebration for the event will include the rite of the anointing of the sick.
