WASHINGTON (CNS) --- A requirement to participate in a program that promotes abstinence as a way of reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS should not have been removed from an appropriations bill marked up by a House subcommittee, said a statement from Catholic Relief Services President Ken Hackett and Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., chairman of the bishops' Committee on International Policy. In marking up the appropriations bill for the 2008 fiscal year, the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee June 5 eliminated a requirement that a portion of HIV/AIDS prevention funding be used to promote abstinence and "partner reduction," or fidelity. "This change could cost lives," said Bishop Wenski in the June 7 statement. He said it "rejects tried-and-true methods that have proven to actually reduce HIV infections." Hackett said that in the experience of CRS, which runs programs in the developing world to help millions of people affected by HIV/AIDS, "only an approach to HIV prevention that has sufficient funding for groups to conduct abstinence and faithfulness education has yielded meaningful advances in stopping the spread of HIV."

Bush, Catholic community discuss poverty, war, Iraqi Christians
ROME (CNS) --- U.S. President George W. Bush praised the Catholic lay Community of Sant'Egidio for being part of an "international army of compassion" that helps the poor. Bush met with what he called "one of the great faith-based organizations in the world" to flesh out ways the U.S. government and Sant'Egidio could further their "common commitment to help the poor, feed the hungry and help eradicate disease." The round-table discussion June 9 had been requested by the White House and was held in the U.S. Embassy to Italy rather than the Sant'Egidio headquarters in the center of Rome due to security concerns. Present for the hourlong, closed-door meeting were eight representatives from Sant'Egidio, including its founder, Andrea Riccardi. Among the U.S. delegates attending were U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Francis Rooney, White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte. The president of Sant'Egidio, Marco Impagliazzo, told reporters after the meeting that it was "like a fairy tale" getting a call saying Bush wanted to meet with the community, which has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times for its work in conflict resolution.

Interior Ministry discards sanctions against Mexico City cardinal
MEXICO CITY (CNS) --- Mexico's Interior Ministry has discarded a complaint against Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City and another church official for campaigning against a city law that legalized abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Local lawmakers who approved the initiative April 24 had filed a complaint accusing Cardinal Rivera and the Mexico City archdiocesan spokesman, Father Hugo Romero Asencion, of violating a constitutional passage that prohibits religious figures from participating in politics. In a statement released June 9, the Interior Ministry said that "it was not appropriate to apply any sanctions" in the case. Father Romero praised the decision but said he expected similar complaints in the future. "Unfortunately the law is still there and, as we've said, it's discriminatory," Father Romero said in an interview with Catholic News Service. He added that political parties are using the Mexican Constitution to prevent the Catholic Church from voicing its views.

Papal patience causes chafing among some Vatican bureaucrats, media
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --- More than two years into his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI has proven to be a very patient decision-maker --- so patient that even some of his Vatican bureaucrats are chafing a little. "There are all these decisions that you thought were already made, and then nothing happens," one Roman Curia official said in early June. The examples abound: the pope's letter to Chinese Catholics, announced in January, has yet to appear; the papal document widening use of the Tridentine Mass, reportedly ready since last fall, is still awaiting publication; a consistory to name new cardinals, expected in June by most Vatican officials, has apparently been put off until the fall; a slew of key appointments, including the replacement of several Roman Curia heads who are past retirement age, keeps getting deferred; and the streamlining of Vatican communications agencies, rumored to have been one of the pope's priorities following his election in 2005, still has not happened. Why are things taking so long? The main reason, according to those inside the Curia, is that the pope believes some of these questions call for consultation and fine-tuning, rather than snap decisions.

Iraqis living in Jordan desperately need aid, says church worker
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --- The thousands of impoverished Iraqis spilling into Jordan each year are in desperate need of humanitarian aid, said the head of Caritas Jordan. However, Jordanian government officials are reluctant to let international nongovernmental organizations offer assistance to Iraqis "because they don't want to have a repeat of what happened with the Palestinians," when the Palestinians, fleeing violence from the war of 1948, stayed, said Wael Suleiman, executive director of Caritas Jordan. His agency is a local affiliate of Caritas Internationalis, an umbrella organization of Catholic aid agencies. Suleiman noted that Jordan had allowed the permanent resettlement of Palestinian refugees, 1.5 million of whom currently live in refugee camps in the country. While today the Jordanian government "accepts the Iraqis as guests," it is hesitant to give them legal or refugee status, he said. Through two projects Caritas Jordan runs with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Caritas Jordan recently succeeded in helping 27,000 Iraqis get approved as registered refugees, Suleiman said. He added that Caritas Jordan hopes to have 65,000 Iraqis registered by the end of the year. Only a few humanitarian organizations can assist the approximately 1.5 million Iraqis living --- often illegally --- in Jordan, he said.