A priest's refusal to bury a parishioner who died of AIDS in the church cemetery has compelled the Roman Catholic Church in the southern Indian state of Kerala to ask its members to show compassion toward HIV/Aids victims.
In a circular issued to parish priests on Sunday, Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil urged his clergy and people to show love, respect and mercy to any parishioners hit by Aids.
He said Aids patients should not be discriminated against in matters of basic church rites, and urged the clergy to understand that Aids is like any other contagious disease.
"When we deal with Aids patients, we should be responsible church members, showing to them the true Christian love and social justice," the circular said.
The Reverend Paul Thelakat, a church spokesperson, said the cardinal's first circular on AIDS followed a priest's refusal in December to bury in the cemetery a truck driver who had died of Aids.
The Reverend George Payapilli had ordered the 38-year-old parishioner, who has been identified only as "James," to be buried in a pit dug outside the cemetery, but still within the church complex in the Elavoor parish, 30km north of Cochin, the state's commercial hub.
Circular
The cardinal's five-page circular says the clergy should provide proper last sacraments and burial to Aids victims.
"The HIV virus is inside the dead body and it does not spread to others through touch during the burial," the circular says.
The cardinal said that priests and others who handle the dead bodies of Aids victims should take precautions, rather than show discrimination toward them and their families. He said the most important precaution is to ensure that those handling the Aids dead have no bruises.
The HIV virus causes Aids, an incurable disease, and can be spread through cuts in human flesh.
The circular said that the most common ways for HIV to spread are through sexual contact, needle sharing and transmission from infected mothers to newborn children before or during birth, or through breast-feeding.
It said the clergy should teach people that the best way to counter Aids is to keep strict morality in sex and live faithfully in marriage.
The cardinal also said that fighting Aids is a major mission for the 4 745 Catholic hospitals and clinics across India, and the church runs 39 hospitals to treat Aids patients exclusively.
India's Health Ministry says about 4.58 million people - about 0.8% of India's adult population - have the HIV virus.