WHAT is the National World Aids Day? In line with the observance of the World AIDS Day every December 1 as declared by the World Health Organization and in response to the appeal of Pope Benedict XVI to reach out to People Living with HIV-AIDS (PLHIV’s)*, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) (with the letter of request from His Excellency Most Rev. Broderick S. Pabillo, DD, then the Bishop-advisor of the Philippine Catholic HIV & AIDS Network or PHILCHAN) declared the First Sunday of December as National World Aids Day in the Philippine Church. This is also called as National Aids Day or National Aids Sunday.
WHEN is the National World Aids Day? Every First Sunday of December.
WHY do we celebrate this Day? This special day aims to highlight the importance of consolidating existing efforts to fight the spread of the virus and to reach out to people living with HIV-AIDS through healthcare and spiritual accompaniment.
We therefore raise awareness and knowledge among Catholic believers on the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS to eliminate stigma on those suffering from infection of the virus and the disease. The requested day of observance does not carry any national special collections but only special prayers.
Source: Excerpt from the Minutes of the CBCP Permanent Council Meeting—May 17, 2011, page 5.
