Peruvian bishops say stable and Christian families needed to avoid AIDS

Lima, Peru, Dec 1, 2004 / 22:00 pm

As people around the world marked World AIDS Day, the Health Ministry Department of the Peruvian Bishops Conference called on Peruvian society to adopt urgent measures against the disease and said that “stable and Christian families” are privileged means for combating it.

The Department published a message in which it called on Peruvians to reflect on the scourge of AIDS and to consider it “a social problem that afflicts young people, male and female,” destroys families and even affects the economy.

The statement argued that one way to avoid spreading the disease is “to live safe and responsible sexuality,” practicing chastity and fidelity.  In this sense, the statement recalled that “a stable and Christian family will form young people to be responsible, mature, free and sure of themselves.”

Likewise the document exhorts Christians to support those who are suffering from the disease and to embrace a new pastoral approach to AIDS victims by welcoming, accompanying, serving, educating and defending the rights of the thousands of people affected by this disease and who are often marginalized by society.

The Department encouraged those who work with carriers of the virus, exhorting them to continue being “good Samaritans” and “apostles of mercy.”

“May Mary, comfort of the afflicted, make us all more sensitive to the suffering of so many brothers and sisters and may she intercede for those who voluntarily dedicate themselves to their care.”