Kansas City - A report that hundreds of Catholic priests in the US have died of AIDS is "sad" and a "disappointment", but not necessarily a surprise because the disease is so pervasive in society in general, Catholic Church officials said yesterday.
The statements by Catholic officials came in response to a nationwide investigation by the Kansas City Star newspaper - a three-part series running from Sunday to today - that claimed Catholic priests were dying of AIDS at a rate far higher than the general US population.
Calling AIDS the "black plague of our times", Archbishop James Keleher of Kansas said in a statement: "It is no wonder that it [AIDS] has also touched Catholic clergy as well as ministers of other churches. But no matter how few clergy it has infected this is surely very sad."