To the men and women religious at the Umberto I
Hospital in
'HUMANITY' GIVES
On Sunday, 19
December, the Holy Father visited the Umberto I Hospital
and spoke to the men and women religious. The following is a translation of his
address which was given in Italian.
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
1. I
am pleased to have this informal meeting with you who are carrying out a
valuable service here in the Umberto I Hospital. Your caring and discreet service communicates
the infinite love of the heavenly Father for every suffering person and is the
tangible sign of the attention paid by the ecclesial Community to so many sick
brothers and sisters. I thank Fr. Ludovico Napoli Capuchin, with
all the other chaplains for the courteous words he addressed to me on
everyone's behalf, welcoming me and giving me best wishes from all of you for
the Christmas festivities.
I
return these wishes with all my heart and I invoke abundant heavenly blessings
and the strength of the divine Spirit on you all, so that you may continue with
abnegation and generosity to carry out your service as “Good Samaritans”.
2.
Christmas, which we shall be celebrating in a few days, amongst other things
makes a significant appeal to us to accept with an open heart every human
being, whose weakness is assumed by the Word and raised to eternal dignity (cf.
Christmas Preface III). The urgency of
this vocation which is common to all believers,
becomes yet more pressing for you, men and women religious who, operating in
health care structures, are meeting particularly frail and suffering people
every day.
When
the Church speaks of the “humanization” of hospitals she is certainly not
referring to any particular ideology or philosophy, but only to the exemplary
covenant that her Lord and Master has definitively entered into with man,
taking torment and pain upon himself.
The liturgy appropriately reminds us of this: “Jesus” - we proclaim in a
preface “still today, like a Good Samaritan approaches every man who is wounded
in body and spirit and pours the oil of consolation and the wine of hope on his
wounds” (Common Preface, VIII).
If
the patient admitted to hospital were not to be welcomed as unique, above all
by those whose lives are inspired by the Gospel, but is considered merely as a
“number” or a “clinical case”, his human dignity would be greatly humiliated.
In
that case, one might do one's own task well but without a real capacity to
welcome the sufferer. How can one look
after the health of a fellow human being without approaching him in his
totality, recognizing in the depths of his heart his inalienable desire for
happiness?
So technical and administrative efficiency must always be combined
with that generous love which is nourished by true Christian solidarity.
3.
Dear men and women religious, the recurrence of Christmas when we celebrate the
manifestation of God's goodness and his love for mankind (cf. Ti 3:4), comes to
shed even more light on the meaning of your “mission” in the wards, in contact
with the sick and their respective families.
You are asked to offer to all those suffering pain and loneliness as
well as to their relatives and those who work in the various departments of the
hospital, a fraternal welcome, discreet availability, an attentive ear, to
witness to the goodness and love of the Son of God incarnate.
Although at times even the most up-to-date medical science confronted by
the virulence of disease is obliged to admit defeat, nevertheless “humanity”
gives life, hope and brings healing. And
even death, in this context, assumes a sense of great dignity and peace. Thus
humanity, brightened by the light that came into the world with the birth of
Christ, is an infinite resource.
May
Mary who in silence contemplated the mystery of the incarnate Word help you in
this delicate task.
May she, the comfort of the afflicted, obtain for you fresh vigour to
continue your valuable ministry of service to the sick.
With
this hope I impart to you a special Apostolic Blessing, which I gladly extend
to your religious communities and to all the people you meet every day in this
place of suffering and hope.
At the
end of his talk to the religious, the Pope spontaneously added the following
words.
I
have spoken to the men and women religious, but there are many people who
represent the laity, the medical and nursing professions, these
health care workers of whom the Church is so caring, especially the See of
Rome. Thanks to Cardinal Angelini's initiative there is also a special Pontifical
Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, a dicastery
of great importance to the Holy See, to the Church and also to society,
received everywhere with great understanding and enthusiasm. I wholeheartedly greet all of you, dear
brothers and sisters and lay people, and I encourage you in your difficult work
which demands great self-dedication, to accompany our sick brothers and
sisters, to bring them not only physical healing but also spiritual healing, as
far as you can.
I
must say before this visit I received visits from Cardinal Ruini,
Archbishop Ragonesi and then four Capuchin
chaplains. But here there are
others. Room for them was not lacking,
but they should have also brought the nurses. Certainly there was enough
room. One and all are welcome in the
Pope's house.
Then I should recall one more thing. This hospital is not totally unknown to me, because I once came here to visit the late President, Sandro Pertini, whom the Lords has now called to himself. Let us pray for his soul. “Requiem aeternam dona ei Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei, requiescat in pace”.
Here we are certainly at the spiritual heart of this hospital, where
Jesus in the Eucharist is present. Here
all the sections converge. My programme
for the wards is rather limited, perhaps too limited, but we shall try to do
what has been planned. The sick children
take first place. So spiritually I shall
visit all the wards, I would like to go to all the wards, I know of your
problems, which have been discussed in an open letter everyone may read. They sought to “enlist” the Pope's sympathy a
little, so that he would be the spokesman of these problems. This is not strange to me,
it is not unusual for me to voice various human needs, and also of those who
have no voice. But I hope that the sick
in the Umberto I will have a voice in
this democratic, Italian society which is certainly living through very
difficult times today although it is rich.
We talked about it here with the Rector of “La Sapienza”. Of course, there are some shortcomings in
this hospital, but let us compare these shortages with the enormous shortages
and insufficiencies in the many
hospitals in the world that I have already visited in Africa, in Latin America,
everywhere, where the level of health and hygiene and even of health care is
far lower. Seen in this perspective our
own needs should make us sensitive to the pressing needs of other areas of the
world, above
all in the so-called
Dear
people, I thank you. As you see, I have
said more “off the cuff” than “on the cuff”.
But this often happens, especially in the early morning when one's brain
is fresher, then thoughts and ideas flow faster.