From Catholic News Service

Bishops won't wed Burundian couples without HIV test

By Catholic News Service

BUJUMBURA, Burundi (CNS) -- Burundi's Catholic bishops said priests will not bless any marriages unless the couple produces proof they have taken HIV tests.

"The church will not bless the engaged couple if they do not present this document," Gelase Mugerowimana, a spokesman for the Burundian bishops' conference, told local radio March 24. "We ask the (engaged couple) to tell the truth to each other, which is the only basis of their statement of union."

Mugerowimana added that a couple's HIV status does not matter. Both HIV-positive and HIV-negative people will be able to receive the church's blessings.

The church's decision did not meet with universal approval in the country.

"Our position is clear. We are against a forced HIV test. The test must be voluntary and anonymous," Jeanne Gapiya, head of Burundi's National Association of people with HIV/AIDS, told Reuters, the British news agency. "People must be psychologically prepared to welcome results of their test. Here, it is an obligation, and people will fear to do the test."

According to the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS, Burundi's HIV infection rate for people between the ages of 15 and 49 is around 6 percent. That puts the country at the lower end of infection rates in sub-Saharan Africa.

Burundian church officials also announced that priests will no longer be allowed to bless unmarried pregnant women.

The Catholic Church is one of the strongest institutions in Burundi. More than 60 percent of Burundi's nearly 7 million people are Catholic, one of the highest rates in Africa. The church has taken on a leading role in rebuilding the country after a decade-long civil war that ended in 2003.

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