VATICAN CITY, Nov 28, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday expressed his "spiritual closeness" to AIDS sufferers and their families ahead of World AIDS Day at the weekend.
"I am spiritually close to those who suffer this terrible disease as well as their families, especially those who have lost a spouse. I assure them of my prayers," the pope said after holding his weekly general audience.
"I also wish to exhort all persons of good will to multiply efforts to stop the spread of the HIV virus, to fight the prejudices that often affect those who are infected, and to take care of the ill, especially when they are still children," the pontiff said.
AIDS prevention is a subject that often puts the Vatican at odds with international health organisations, since the Roman Catholic Church advocates abstinence as the only effective way of preventing the spread of AIDS and opposes campaigns for the use of condoms.
Numbers of people living with the virus are levelling out and the percentage of the population affected is in decline, but AIDS still claims 5,700 lives a day, the United Nations said last week.
The number of people worldwide infected with HIV in 2007 totalled 2.5 million people and 33.2 million are now living with the virus, it said in its annual report.
Children under the age of 15 totalled 2.5 million of the total number of those living with the virus.
However, UNAIDS executive director Peter Piot said, "unquestionably, we are beginning to see a return on investment" in prevention efforts.
Saturday is World AIDS Day.
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