Rome, Italy, Jan 20, 2009 / 19:28 pm
Marking the 56th World Leprosy Day on Sunday, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán on Sunday delivered a speech praising efforts to care for leprosy victims and calling for an end to the “burdensome stigma” sometimes attached to their condition.
Cardinal Barragán addressed his remarks in a letter to the presidents of bishops’ conferences and to bishops responsible for pastoral care in health around the world. In his remarks, he called the observance of World Leprosy Day a “great appointment of solidarity” with those who are affected by leprosy, which is also known as Hansen’s disease.
According to the cardinal, who is President of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, the disease strikes over 250,000 people each year, most of whom live in conditions of poverty. About 12 percent of all new cases are children under the age of 15.
Noting Christ’s love for children, the cardinal appealed to leaders of government organizations to pay special attention to children sick with leprosy who “run the risk of seeing their futures mortgaged by the negative consequences of their illness.”