April 11, 2005

Last year, Conference President Hempstead (NY) Mayor James A. Garner and Conference Executive Director Tom Cochran visited the Vatican to report to his Holiness Pope John Paul II and His Eminence Cardinal Francis Arinze on the previous year's four-nation mission in Africa by the Conference.

Garner noted later that the May 18 meeting with Cardinal Arinze was extremely productive. The Cardinal was thanked for the tremendous role the Catholic Church has played by fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the nations of Africa.

Originally from Nigeria, Cardinal Arinze was pleased to hear that the Conference visit to Africa included meetings with mayors of forty African countries.

Garner and Cochran also met with U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, James Nicholson, to discuss the issue of HIV/AIDS and cooperative efforts between the United States and the Vatican.

Nicholson is now head of the U.S. Veterans Administration, nominated by President George Bush after the 2004 election.