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Skriven 2005-02-01 17:15:16 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45.1)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service (Press Release)
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              The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                        Vatican Information Service.
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                               VIS-Press releases

MESSAGE PUBLISHED FOR 52ND WORLD DAY OF LEPROSY

VATICAN CITY, JAN 29, 2005 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council for Health Care
Ministry has just published the Message of its president, Cardinal Javier
Lozano Barragan, for the celebration tomorrow, January 30, of the 52nd World
Day of Leprosy.

The Message begins with the Apostle Paul's exhortation, in a Letter to the
Church in Rome, "to cry with those who are crying," because "if one member
suffers, then all members suffer together." The cardinal notes that while we
can celebrate man's dominion over leprosy, or Hansen's disease, "it is still
lethal in at least nine countries." Often worse than the disease itself, he
writes, is the shame and "absurd discrimination" suffered by lepers. There will
be no victory over leprosy until "the concept of the indelible 'mark of infamy'
is eliminated."

Cardinal Lozano underscores the Holy Father's remarks on January 21 to members
of the council as they celebrated their plenary that Church leaders must pay
special attention "to those (health) structures where the patient suffers forms
of marginalization and a lack of social support," especially "in those parts of
the world where the ill, notwithstanding medical progress, lack medicines and
adequate assistance."

Noting that "there is no lack of medicines," and that there are various world
organisms that specialize in treating leprosy, the council president
emphasizes, however, the need for more adequate health structures and
competent, well-trained personnel. Quoting statistics from national episcopal
conferences for the year 2003, he pointed out that, worldwide, the Church runs
656 leprosariums (Africa 254, Americas 69, Asia 327, Europe 4, Oceania 2).

Referring to the Year of the Eucharist, Cardinal Lozano quotes Pope John Paul's
"Mane nobiscum Domine": "The Eucharist is not only an expression of communion
in the life of the Church; it is also a project of solidarity for all of
mankind."

He had special thanks for those "missionaries who care for these brothers of
ours, fulfilling the specific pastoral ministry of 'the Gospel of Hope'. They
are living and teaching the entire world that taking care of a body so
afflicted is fraternal sharing and at the same time a communication of faith in
Christ Who died and arose. A 'sign' of hope and the total victory of life."

"In the mystery of the 'Mystical Body of the Church'," says the Message, "in
union with the suffering Christ, the leper will feel at the center of the
project of cooperation in the salvation of mankind," especially with the help
of those missionaries who care for them.
CON-AVA/WORLD DAY LEPROSY/LOZANOVIS 050131 (410)

SUMMARY

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