World AIDS Day Service

St. Joseph Church, 1107 N. Orleans hosted its 20th annual prayer service on Dec. 1 in remembrance of World AIDS Day. Traditionally the prayer service draws people from various faith communities and HIV/AIDS organizations. In a special appeal against HIV and AIDS, Pope Benedict XVI called for special attention to those unable to afford life-saving drugs, especially pregnant and nursing women affected by the disease. The pope, speaking before World AIDS Day Dec. 1, said his thoughts and prayers were with "the great number of children who contract the virus every year from their own mothers, despite the fact there are therapies for preventing it." AIDS has caused "millions of deaths and tragic human suffering, most markedly in poorer regions of the world, which have great difficulty in getting access to effective drugs," he said Nov. 28, as reported by Catholic News Service. The pope encouraged the many initiatives the church supports aimed at "eradicating this scourge." The Vatican has estimated Catholic agencies provide about 25 percent of all HIV treatment and care throughout the world.