A U.S. bishops' conference official said the input of churches and religious groups at the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok has received more attention than previous conferences.

Father Robert Vitillo, director of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and a special adviser on AIDS to Caritas Internationalis, said religious groups were marginalized during the last conference, held two years ago in Barcelona, Spain.

"At the Barcelona conference many people, including myself, from faith-based organizations felt that faith-based people weren't really welcomed. Our applications to present abstracts or present posters or participate in workshops were not accepted," Father Vitillo told Catholic News Service.

"It was very hard to get space to hold a meeting at the conference. Yet it's been very different here. Right after Barcelona we started meeting with the organizers of this conference, and we've had a very different reception," he said.

The U.S. government scaled back its official participation at the conference, citing budget restrictions. Only 50 U.S. researchers were scheduled to participate this year, compared to 236 in Barcelona.

Many AIDS activists believe the Bush administration is bothered that its emphasis on abstinence and faithfulness gets lost amid the focus on condoms in many AIDS programs. The U.S. government's refusal to accept generic drugs approved by the World Health Organization as safe and effective has also angered health professionals.

Tommy Thompson, U.S. secretary for Health and Human Services, was not present in Bangkok; his speech in Barcelona was interrupted by hecklers.

"That's too bad. I wish he were here," Father Vitillo said. "If Dr. Thompson were here he'd see that there are positive results from faith-based participation."

Father Vitillo said that while the U.S. government plays a leading role in many aspects of AIDS research and prevention U.S. officials nonetheless need to listen to their critics.

"It's important for the U.S. to continue to be part of these conferences, to hear the perspectives of people from all over the world and to get a better sense of the impact that policies of the U.S. government have on people living with HIV and AIDS," said Father Vitillo, who also serves as president of the board of directors of the National Catholic AIDS Network.

Father Vitillo predicted the U.S. government position against generic drugs would also come under fire at the conference.

"This will severely limit the amount of help that the AIDS initiative of the Bush administration can bring to people, even though the initiative is otherwise very positive. The U.S. government needs to hear these messages from people, even when there are negative reactions to what it's doing," he said.

About 17,000 AIDS researchers and activists were attending the conference, the largest global gathering to discuss the disease, which has killed 20 million people and currently afflicts 38 million.

The AIDS conference began July 11, yet Father Vitillo came to Bangkok earlier to meet with other religious leaders and activists involved in AIDS ministries. A two-day gathering of Christian activists took place at the same time as similar gatherings of Muslim and Buddhist leaders. The three groups then met together in an interfaith session designed to encourage faith-based participants to participate more aggressively in the weeklong conference.

Marking the new status of faith-based organizations, the U.N.'s top AIDS official appeared before the interfaith gathering.

"Religious organizations have a long history of activism on social justice issues, and you have been standing to speak to the world about the moral challenges of our time, including AIDS," Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of U.N. AIDS, told participants July 10.

Piot promised that U.N. AIDS would "continue to work in close partnership with faith-based groups," and he challenged religious leaders "to play an expanded role, not just in the delivery of care, but in leadership to address those social factors which make people vulnerable and fuel the epidemic."

Piot said increased involvement of religious groups was critical to the fight against HIV and AIDS.

On July 12, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told conference participants that abstinence and loving relationships were more crucial to fighting AIDS than condoms.

Uganda has waged one of the world's most successful battles against the spread of HIV in a rare success story for sub-Saharan Africa, decreasing the infection rate from 30 percent in the early 1990s to about 6 percent of the country's 25 million people last year.

---CNS