To the
participants in the 100th Congress of the Italian Surgical Society
CHURCH IS WITH YOU AS YOU FIGHT DISEASE
“I offer you my best
wishes that the work of your congress will
help open the field of surgery to ever more promising horizons in the
area of prevention, diagnosis, therapy and rehabilitation. Your activity as surgeons is an incomparable
gift to society”, the Holy Father said to those taking part in the 100th
Congress of the Italian Surgical Society, whom he received in audience on
Thursday, 15 October. Here is a
translation of his address, which was given in Italian.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. I
offer my cordial welcome to all of you who are taking part in the 100th Congress of the prestigious Italian Surgical
Society. Thank you for your visit! Your presence is particularly significant to
me, not only because of your distinguished professional activity, but also
because of your desire to inspire your daily work with fundamental ethical
values.
I cordially greet your President, Prof.
Giorgio Ribotta and thank him for his courteous words on behalf of you
all. With him, I greet the directors of
the Surgical Societies of the European Community countries, as well as those of
the other sister-societies and the presidents of the surgical societies
established as an extension of general surgery.
2.
During your meeting you have examined the complex tasks of surgery. You have also analyzed the new horizons
created by the extraordinary progress made in the considerable increase of
therapeutic possibilities, for example, in the removal and reconstruction of
organs or in the vast area of transplants.
Your
main concern is to improve the patient's health, while respecting his physical,
psychological and spiritual integrity.
In showing deep satisfaction with this noble intention, I hope that it
will be the constant concern of every doctor and surgeon. The humanization of medicine is not a
secondary aspect, but rather it is the centre of a practical medical science
that is prepared not to turn a deaf ear to the human being's expectations nor
to disappoint them.
In
your profession, you seek to be in the forefront of defending life, whose
deficiencies and limitations due to disease you encounter, but without giving
up your fight to overcome them or at least to reduce their most painful
consequences. The Church is beside you
as you fulfil this indispensable calling, since “the Church today lives a
fundamental aspect of her mission in lovingly and generously accepting every
human being, especially those who are weak and sick. This is made all the more necessary as a
“culture of death” threatens to take control”(Christifideles laici, n. 38).
In
recent years, I too, on more than one occasion, have experienced and shared the
condition of patients, either by visiting them or by being obliged myself to be
admitted to hospital. Thus I have been
able to experience your professional expertise, always accompanied by attentive
humanity. Today I am pleased to express
my appreciation and thanks to you for all you do for those who are
suffering. At this moment, I should like
to express special gratitude to the late Prof. Francesco Crucitti, who embodied
these most lofty qualities in a generous and exemplary way.
3.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I offer you my best wishes that the work of
your congress will help open the field of surgery to ever more promising
horizons in the areas of prevention, diagnostics, therapy and
rehabilitation. Your activity as
surgeons is an incomparable gift to society.
May
God always help you remain faithful to the spirit of your profession and to
serve lovingly those who are experiencing the trial of sickness and
suffering. May he give you the strength
always to practise it with great enthusiasm in a spirit of service.
Be
teachers for the young surgeons, not only from a professional but also from a
human standpoint, so that taught by you they will be able to care for health
and life, giving priority to the ethical dimension which alone can fully
guarantee that the person is authentically served.
I
entrust the results of your congress to Mary, Health of the sick, and I assure
you of my remembrance in prayer to the Lord, Physician and Saviour of souls and
bodies, so that he may sustain you in your activity.
With
these sentiments, I implore upon you, your families and your collaborators an
abundance of heavenly favours, as a pledge of which I willingly impart my
Apostolic Blessing to you all.