To the VI
International Conference
of the
Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers
OFTEN SEEK SOMETHING
IN WHICH TO BELIEVE
23 November 1991
Address originally delivered in Italian.
1.I am particularly pleased to be present once again at the international
study and reflection conference which
the Pontifical Council for
Pastoral Assistance to Health-care Workers has sponsored annually since its
institution to call to the attention of Christians and of all people of good
will in general the central and ever more timely questions which affect medical
science, ethics and the apostolate to health-care workers.
My cordial greeting goes first of
all to Cardinal Fiorenzo Angelini
and his collaborators who deserve the credit for this meeting; at the same
time, I greet our illustrious guests from different nations, the scientists,
researcher, doctors, sociologists and theologians who are participating in this
important symposium devoted to a specific problem which, with the greatest
urgency, demands the attention of the whole of human society in our day.
Drugs
and alcoholism against life: this is the theme you are reflecting on. Quite
opportunely, it is preceded, almost introduced, by the significant Pauline
expression: Contra spem
in spem (Rom. 4:18), as if to claim for those
who, following the example of the Patriarch Abraham of old, confidently trust
in God’s promise, the right never to lose hope even when, humanly speaking, it
would seem to be a vain, false hope. Because of their intrinsic severity and
their devastating spread, drug dependency and alcoholism are two phenomena
which threaten humankind, impairing in individuals, the family environment and
the social fabric the deepest reasons for that hope which, in order to be such,
must be a hope in life, a hope of life.
2.In thinking about it, however, it
is easy to discover a double connection, between these phenomena and
hopelessness. On the one hand, at the root of alcohol and narcotic abuse,
although they have a sad complexity of causes and situations, there is usually
an existential emptiness due to the absence of values and a lack of confidence
in self, others and life in general. On the other hand, the difficulties
encountered in getting out of such a situation once it has developed aggravate
and increase the sense of hopelessness, thereby leading the victims, their
families and communities to adopt an attitude of resignation and defeat.
With the passing of time,
furthermore, the “alcoholism and drug” problem has spread greatly, and today we
are faced with an insidious plague spread throughout the world, promoted by
strong financial interests and sometimes even political motives. While many
lives are thus wasted, the powerful drug lords arrogantly revel in luxury and
squandering. Humanly speaking, it would seem that the motives for hopelessness
(contra spem)
prevail for the families who, marked and directly struck by these tragic
phenomena, do not feel sufficiently helped and protected. With great affection
I am close to them and share their sorrow; I would like to meet them one by
one, to give them some of Christ’s consolation (cf. 2 Cor
1:5) and encourage them to react against the sense of abandonment and the
temptation to discouragement.
So very often, thinking of the
victims of drugs and alcohol – who for the most part are young, although their
spread among adults is ever more alarming – I am led to think of the man in the Gospel parable who, assailed
by criminals, was robbed and left half-dead by the wayside on the road to
Jericho (cf. Lk 10:29-37). They, too, seem to me like
people “on a journey” who have set off in search of something in which they can
believe in order to live; instead, they run into the merchants of death who
assail them with the lure of false freedom or mistaken notions of happiness.
These victims are men and women who have unfortunately been robbed of their
most precious values, who are deeply injured in body and spirit, violated in
the innermost recesses of their conscience and offended in their human dignity.
Truly in such situations there would seem to be strong reasons for leading
people to abandon all hope (contra spem).
3.Even though we are conscious of
this, you and I wish, however, to testify to the fact that there are reasons to
continue to hope, and that they are much stronger than those to the contrary: contra spem in spem. Indeed today also, as in the Gospel parable,
there is no lack of good Samaritans who, with personal sacrifice and sometimes
even at their own risk, choose to become “the neighbour”
of the person in difficulty. Therefore,
I want to say to the families who are affected by difficulty: Do not lose hope!
Rather, pray with me that these good Samaritans who work in the public
structure or in the volunteer sector, as private citizens or leaders of
nations, may be multiplied, thus forming a solid front ever more committed, not
only to the prevention and treatment of drug addiction, but also to the
denunciation and legal pursuit of the traffickers of death and to the
dismantling of the networks of moral and social disintegration.
We are now faced with a phenomenon
of extremely vast and alarming proportions, not only because of the great
number of lives which have been cut short, but also because of the worrisome
spread of the moral contagion which for
some time now has been reaching the very young, as is unfortunately all too
often the case of children forced to become drug runners and then, with their
peers, to become drug users themselves. I therefore renew my pressing appeal
which I addressed several years ago to the various public entities, national
and international alike, that “they put an end to this expansion of the trade
of narcotic substances. In order to do
this, first of all, it is necessary to bring into the open the interests
of those who speculate in such a market; then, they should point out the means
and methods they use; lastly, see to their coordinated, effective dismantling.
It is further necessary to work for the integral development of those people
who devote themselves to the production of such substances in order to gain a
livelihood. At the same time, you will seek to provide joint networks of
services which will bring about a true prevention of evil and sustain the
recovery and reinsertion of the young people who have been struck by it” (Address of 23 September 1989).
4.There is, of course, a distinct
difference between the use of drugs and alcohol: while the moderate use of the
latter as a beverage does not transgress moral laws, and only its abuse is
condemned, drug abuse, on the contrary,
is always illicit, because it involves an unjustifiable, irrational
renunciation of the ability to think, will and act as a free person. For the rest, even the use of psychoactive
substances for alleviating well-defined cases of great physical or mental pain,
under medical control, must be done in accordance with very prudent criteria in
order to avoid dangerous forms of addiction or dependence. It is the task of
health-care authorities, doctors and research directors to work to reduce these
risks to the minimum through adequate measures of prevention and information.
Drug
addiction and alcoholism are against life. One cannot speak of “the freedom
to take drugs” nor of a “right to drugs” because the human person does not have
the right to harm himself; neither can he, nor may he, ever renounce his
personal dignity, which comes from God! These phenomena – it must always be
recalled – not only prejudice physical
and psychological well-being, but thwart the person himself in his capacity for
communion and giving. All this is particularly serious in the case of young
people. Theirs, in fact, is an age when the person opens to life; it is the age
of great ideals; it is the season of sincere, giving love.
Therefore, I want to say once again to the young people with
heartfelt concern: Guard against the temptations of certain illusory, tragic
experiments! Do not give in to them! Why set off on a dead end path? Why renounce
the full maturation of your years, accepting instead a premature senescence?
Why waste your life and energies which could rather find joyous affirmation in
the ideals of honesty, work, sacrifice, purity and true love?
There we have it: love! To drug
addicts, the victims of alcoholism, family and social communities who are
suffering so greatly because of this infirmity in their members, the Church, in
Christ’s name, offers as a response and alternative the therapy of love. God
is Love, and whoever lives in love brings about communion with others and with
God. “Whoever does not love remains in death” (1 Jn
3:14). But whoever loves savours life and remains in
it!
Dear brothers and sisters, there is
no struggle against the phenomena of drugs and alcoholism nor effective
activity for the treatment and cure of their victims without the sound
regaining of the human values of love and
life, the only ones, especially when they are enlightened by religious
faith, capable of giving full meaning to our lives. Society cannot and must not
counter the sense of alienation which
so often afflicts drug addicts with its own indifference
nor think that it is absolved because it
has merely supported the activity of volunteers which is, of course,
irreplaceable but is by itself inevitably inadequate. We need laws! We need
structures! We need courageous intervention!
5.Just as, therefore, the Church
should work on the moral and pedagogical level, intervening with great
sensitivity in this specific field, public institutions should be committed to
a serious public policy intended to alleviate situations of personal and social
hardship, the most obvious of which are the crisis of the family, the beginning and foundation of
human society; unemployment among the young; housing; social and health-care
services; the educational system. In this campaign of prevention, treatment and
rehabilitation a significant role is played by interdisciplinary research, to
which this conference has made such a
relevant contribution.
In expressing my satisfaction for
the involvement and results of this
useful scientific colloquy, I would like to express my thoughts of deep
appreciation to the great multitude of the young and not-so-young who
participate in rehabilitation programmes and other initiatives aimed at this noble intention.
Assuring them of my fervent prayer and heartfelt solidarity, I invite them once
again to look upon life with confidence,
to believe in the inestimable greatness of the destiny of the human person who,
I want to repeat, is the reflection of the image of God himself. In a few words
I shall repeat again the invitation to hope against all hope: contra spem in spem, and I address it especially to those who, with
praiseworthy generosity and a Christian spirit, choose to be the neighbours of their brothers and sisters in need of help
because they are involved in and overcome by this double deplorable phenomenon.
The Church, which wants to work –
and it is her duty to do so – in society
as a Gospel leaven, is, and will always continue to be, near to those who
confront the social scourges of alcoholism and drug addiction with their
responsible dedication, in order to encourage and support them with Christ’s
words and grace. He is the light which enlightens every person and can help him
to lead a more mature, worthier life.
May the Virgin most holy accompany
the generous efforts of all those who exert their energies in this arduous but
courageous service. As a pledge of supernatural help, I cordially impart my
Apostolic Blessing to them.