Vatican foundation appeals for donations for HIV/AIDS medicine

Published: 2005-12-14

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A Vatican foundation has launched an appeal for Christmas donations to help pay for urgently needed medicine for those with HIV/AIDS. "Let us help (these people) especially young mothers" who are infected and may die "leaving their children orphans," said Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, head of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers. At a Dec. 14 press conference at Vatican Radio, the Spanish cardinal said the Good Samaritan Foundation has received more than $315,000 in donations since its establishment in September 2004. Almost all the money has been spent buying medicines through Catholic-run health centers that assist AIDS patients, he said. However, some 40 million people are HIV-positive, and many of them will die without the proper care and treatment, he said.

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