To the participants in the World
Congress
of the International Confederation
of Catholic Hospitals
SURPASSES OTHER INTERESTS
On 31 October the Holy
Father received in audience the participants in the World Congress of the
International Confederation of Catholic Hospitals. He spoke to them as follows:
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
1. I
am truly happy to receive in a special audience all of you doctors, nurses,
volunteers, nursing sisters and administrators who, representing Catholic
hospitals throughout the world, have gathered in
I
extend cordial greetings to all present, and particularly to the promoters of
the “Confoederatio Internationalis Catholicorum Hospitalium”: to
I
wish you to know how pleased I am at your initiative, one which I hold to be
important because it brings together
qualified workers in the delicate field of health care in a context of
knowledge, of friendship of discussion, providing you with a stimulus and a
source of encouragement in the often exhausting and anonymous exercise of your
activities. I am certain that your
meetings, aimed at promoting ever closer cultural exchange and technical
collaboration, will prove useful for your profession and for better service to
those who turn to you for health care.
It was precisely to increase such cooperation that I instituted a
special Pontifical Commission last 11 February, expressing in the Motu Proprio Dolentium Hominum my hopes for a better
coordination of all the Catholic organizations involved in the health care
field (cf n. 4 ).
Care of body and soul
2.
When it is a question of organizations like yours, which are inspired by the
Gospel of Christ and the Magisterium of the Church - which by innate vocation
has always promoted the care of the sick - my words become ever more confident
and I feel more deeply grateful for the work that you perform. Your character as Catholic health care workers, who find in Christian moral principles a stimulus for
your mission, makes you in some way continuers of the Lord's healing activity,
summarized in this way by the evangelist Matthew: “He went about all Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity
among the people. So his fame spread
throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with
various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he
healed them” (Mt 4 23-24).
As
is well known, the cures worked by Jesus were not reducible to the pure and
simple elimination of a pathological condition, but were at the same time
prophetic signs of the advent of the
From
Jesus' example the Catholic health care worker derives the duty not to limit
himself to the care of the body, though this is always urgent and necessary but
to extend his concerns to the evangelization of the soul, inasmuch as patients
have the right to be instructed on the meaning of life and death in the light
of the Christian faith. Rich in this spirituality, the health care worker,
particularly the priest, with the pastoral council, is called to carry on an important activity
among the sick and their families, an activity founded on Christian hope.
Beloved brothers and sisters, be credible and attentive witnesses of this hope
at the bedsides of those who look to you for relief of the body and comfort of
the soul.
3.
In a world which is rapidly being transformed, you have also come together to
exchange views concerning the technical aspects necessary for a better
functioning of your health care facilities.
In order to realize the lofty ideals I have mentioned, Catholic
hospitals must neglect nothing in their efforts to assist the sick in the manner
required by their dignity as persons “made in the image and likeness of God”
(Gen 1:26).
No
one is unaware of the way in which technological evolution and social, economic
and political changes have altered the foundation upon which the whole life of
the hospital rests in today's world.
Here we see the need for new dimensions in the educational process,
especially in technical training, but above all in the moral preparation of
health care workers at all levels.
Since Catholic hospitals are called to witness to the Church, they must
re-examine in depth their organization, making sure that it ever better
reflects the gospel values echoed in the social and moral directives of the
Magisterium. May they not let themselves
be absorbed by the “systems” that aim only at the financial component and the
clinical-pathological aspects. May they
be capable of “drawing ever nearer to man and of assisting him before the
anxieties which assail him in the most critical moments of illness. May they be capable of creating a culture
directed towards humanizing medicine
and the hospital environment.
All
this requires a strong unitary movement
among Catholic hospitals - in all sectors, including the
financial-organizational one. With this
hoped-for unity, Catholic hospitals, even more than any other hospitals, even
more than any other hospital institution, must be open to the needs of all
patients on every continent, especially in developing countries.
4.
There is one specific form of service that I would like to suggest once more
for your consideration, for in this matter too I am convinced that Catholic
hospitals ought to be an example to other health services and structures. In every part of the world there is a
vigorous increase in the phenomenon of voluntary service, whereby large numbers
of people, especially among the young, offer to spend at least a part of their
time in doing unpaid work for the community.
For Christians, assuming such responsibility for the public good is a
practical way of showing a willingness to follow Christ's example by sharing
the problems and difficulties of one's brothers and sisters.
How
can we fail to give due recognition to the significant contribution that can be
made to health care facilities by the loving and discreet presence of voluntary
workers, complementing the work of the nursing staff? Voluntary service, if it is properly
coordinated, can help to improve the quality of the care provided, adding an
extra touch of human warmth and attention which can obviously comfort the
patients and probably also have a positive effect on the course of therapy.
I
know that in a considerable number of Catholic hospitals, especially in the
chronic wards, much is already being done in this sphere. But present circumstances would seem to
suggest that now is the time for an effort to make even greater use of the
resources of generosity available in the community, and for this purpose it
might prove very useful for the various hospitals run on Christian lines to
share their experiences. The objective
to be aimed at is a health care structure that is not isolated but a vital part
of the social fabric of the neighbourhood.
An active exchange between the community of the healthy and the
community of the sick cannot fail to prove a powerful incentive to a general
growth in charity.
The
present moment is full of great responsibilities for Catholic hospitals, and
their survival depends upon how Catholics succeed in dealing not only with the
sick of today but with all the people of today.
Their survival likewise depends upon whether Catholics will succeed in
creating a new culture and new forms of pastoral care for the sick, capable of
witnessing the Christ as the Saviour of both soul and body.
New forms of pastoral
care
5.
Dear brothers and sisters, the problems awaiting a solution are very many. My hope is that you will not fall short of
what is expected of you in order to maintain the high esteem rightly accorded
to the health care institutions which the past has entrusted to your
responsibility. Continue to follow your
traditions with exemplary dedication, for the cause which you serve is noble
and ennobling: it is the cause of
humanity! May this ideal sustain you in
the difficulties that you encounter and may it inspire in your hearts the
sentiments that caused the Good Samaritan to take care of the man left wounded
on the road (cf. Lk 10 30-35).
To
all of you I impart my Apostolic Blessing.