Cardinal Sodano’s letter on the occasion of the 19^th World Congress

of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC)

A SHINING LIGHT IN THE WORLD OF CONTEMPORARY MEDICINE

8 August 1998

To the Most Rev. Javier Lozano Barragán

President

Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers

Your Excellency,

The Holy Father was pleased to learn of the Nineteenth World Congress of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations taking place in New York from September 10-13, 1998, and he asks that you convey to all present his greetings in the Lord and the assurance of his prayers.

His Holiness welcomes the choice of the theme, “Medical Ethics Approaching the Third Millennium: The Love of Christ through the Spirit of Life”, since it goes to the very root of the Catholic meaning of the Federation and the contribution which it is called to make to the Church’s great task of serving the human family in the light of the Gospel. In society today, certain developments in medical technology are bringing marvellous benefits to people’s health and well-being, while others can lead to an array of serious ethical problems. It is the task of groups such as the Federation to ensure that medical ethics looks always to the good as God has revealed it, for “only the act in conformity with good can be the way leading to life” (Veritatis Splendor, 72).

Christ is our supreme model. In him we see the love of God, a love offered unreservedly to heal all wounds and cast out all evil in those who came to him. It is Christ, the giver of life (cf. Jn 10:10), who reveals a new horizon for the ethical action of Catholic physicians: doctors and medical staff are Christ’s co-workers in loving and promoting life, the life of all who entrust themselves to their professional competence. The ethics of the Catholic physician must be anointed with affection, esteem and respect for the sick. They must be filled with the Holy Spirit so that through the service of medicine Christ himself may offer his life to those dwelling in the shadow of death. It is in this sense that “the therapeutic ministry of health workers forms part of the pastoral and evangelising action of the Church” and that they truly become “witnesses to the Gospel of Life” (Charter for Health Care Workers, 5). As His Holiness noted in addressing the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers on March 9, 1998: “Every act of care for the sick, if performed in a spirit of faith and fraternal sensitivity, truly becomes an act of religion” (L’Osservatore Romano, March 9-10, 1998, p.6).

Guided by the Scripture, the Church is insistent in affirming that human life is a “fundamental good, the condition here on earth of all other goods” (Evangelium Vitae, 5). Therefore the sacredness of human life is the primary value and the fundamental truth upon which Catholic medical ethics are based. Whatever the psychophysical capacity of human persons, they have an inestimable value in the eyes of God. In addressing participants in the International Congress on “The Roots of Bioethics” (February 17, 1996), the Holy Father made it clear that “bioethical reflection on the ontological and anthropological roots of the norms which ought to orient options of such decisive importance is urgent. The tree of ethical reflection, to conserve its vitality and bear fruit, must be firmly rooted in the ontological truth of the human being, created in the image and likeness of God, redeemed by Christ”.

At the same time, Catholic physicians are called to work closely with medical schools and bioethics centers, and to be in the forefront of efforts to promote “the profound and interior quality of the medical profession, intimately bound up with the Gospel of Life” (cf. Address to Participants in the International Congress on “Training Doctors on the Threshold of the Third Millennium: The Role of Catholic Universities”, November 25, 1996, in Dolentium Hominum, No. 32, pp. 14-15). It is also important that there be dialogue and cooperation between all Catholic agencies and associations working in the health sector, in order to foster that general mobilization of consciences and shared effort in ethics upon which His Holiness has insisted (cf. Evangelium Vitae, 95).

It is the Holy Father’s fervent hope that the Nineteenth World Congress will be a new point of departure for the Federation, leading it to be ever more a shining light in the world of contemporary medicine. Commending all present in the Congress to Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, His Holiness cordially imparts His Apostolic Blessing.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano

Secretary of State