Fighting Poverty To Build Peace --Part 5

Quotes from the Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace
Fighting Poverty To Build Peace
January 1, 2009

Pandemic diseases deserve moral responses.

“Countries afflicted by [pandemic diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS] find themselves held hostage, when they try to address them, by those who make economic aid conditional upon the implementation of anti-life policies. . . First and foremost, educational campaigns are needed, aimed especially at the young, to promote a sexual ethic that fully corresponds to the dignity of the person; initiatives of this kind have already borne important fruits, causing a reduction in the spread of AIDS. Then, too, the necessary medicines and treatment must be made available to poorer peoples as well. This presupposes a determined effort to promote medical research and innovative forms of treatment, as well as flexible application, when required, of the international rules protecting intellectual property, so as to guarantee necessary basic healthcare to all people” (no. 4).