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Editor's note: Paul Eagle, spokesman for Catholic Relief Services, provided this statement to LifeSiteNews in response to questions after Jhpiego, one of CRS' pro-abortion partners, received the UN Population Award.

Thank you for your letting us know about the award to Jhpiego and for your interest in Catholic Relief Services.  

More than one million children in Kenya have been orphaned by AIDS-related illnesses and 6.1% of the adult population is living with HIV, along with 200,000 children living with HIV.

Jhpiego and CRS partnered on a project in Nairobi, Kenya called Support and Assistance To Indigenous Implementing Agencies (SAIDIA).  This was part of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in the country. The grant was focused on caring for people living with HIV and mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS on affected communities.  CRS was responsible for technical leadership in palliative care, basic care and support, care for orphans and vulnerable children, health systems strengthening, abstinence and being faithful programming, and prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS.  Jhpiego acted in a supportive function by checking data and patient records. Jhpiego was aware of and abided to CRS policy that all activities within the SAIDIA grant be implemented in line with Church teaching.

Regarding your questions about future partnership: Every CRS partnership is carefully vetted on a case-by-case basis. If there is reason to question a partnership, the process involves our staff and board and consultation with moral theologians. We will continue this practice including with respect to the partnership with Jhpiego. The money we provide to our partners can only be used for programs in line with Church teaching.  CRS money is not used to fund programs inconsistent with Catholic teaching.  

We ask that you encourage your readers to review the statement from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Administrative Committee, which affirms the systems CRS has to review our partnerships in light of Catholic teaching and our commitment to continually improve these systems as needed. https://newswire.crs.org/crs-upholds-catholic-teaching-and-values-3/