I am the Aids priest, admits Meraklis

A CLERIC whose supporters rioted in Nicosia two years ago after the Archbishop alleged that their favourite was homosexual has admitted to being HIV-positive.

In an interview with Alithia newspaper on Sunday, Father Pancratios Meraklis confirmed what press reports have been suggesting for months – that he is the ‘Aids priest’ suspended from Church duties by the Holy Synod.

Meraklis states he may have caught Aids from contact with HIV-positive patients he ministered to. “I have a fungus infection on my fingers, which is now almost cured, but two years ago was more serious and caused wounds,” was Meraklis’ explanation for how he may have contracted the deadly virus.

“Of course this is not certain and not even science can define when or how I contracted the virus. Perhaps it is a gift from God to sanctify me,” Meraklis told Alithia.

Meraklis, who always denied Archbishop Chrysostomos’s claims, declined to comment on whether he was gay, but said he was for freedom of choice for adults.

“They are mature and can decide for themselves and then account for their choice to God and people,” he said when asked to comment on the recent decriminalisation of homosexuality. However, Meraklis said he was against decriminalisation for “non-adults”.

In March 1996, several people were hurt when stone-throwing Meraklis supporters clashed with police using teargas outside the Archbishopric in Nicosia. Meraklis was the people’s favourite for next Bishop of Morphou, but Chrysostomos said he was homosexual and thus “unsuitable” for promotion.

Fresh elections for a new Morphou Bishop, suspended after the rioting, are to be held on July 5.

Meraklis, who was placed on permanent leave for health reasons on May 18, will not be in the running this time round.

The 42-year-old cleric is now living at a relative’s home in the Skouriotissa forest and is undergoing Aids treatment.

“All this I am going through is a test from God,” he told Alithia.

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