"Motu Proprio" establishing
the Pontifical Commission
for the
Apostolate of Health Care Workers
11 February 1985
1. The deep interest which the Church has
always demonstrated for the world of the suffering is well known. In this for that
matter, she has done nothing more than follow the very eloquent example of her
Founder and Master. In the Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris of 11 February 1984, I
emphasized that ''in his messianic activity in the midst of Israel, Christ drew
increasingly closer to the world of human
suffering. 'He went about doing good', and his actions concerned primarily
those who were suffering and seeking help" (no. 16).
In fact, over the course of the centuries the
Church has felt strongly that service to the sick and suffering is an integral
part of her mission, and not only has she encouraged among Christians the
blossoming of various works of mercy, but she has also established many
religious institutions within her with the specific aim to fostering, organizing,
improving and increasing help to the sick Missionaries, on their part, in
carrying out the work of evangelization have constantly combined the preaching
of the Good News with the help and care of the sick.
2. In her approach to the sick and to the mystery
of suffering, the Church is guided a precise concept of the human person and of
his destiny in God's plan. She holds that medicine and therapeutic cures be
directed not only to the good and the health of the body, but to the person as
such who, in his body, is stricken by evil. In fact, illness and suffering are
not experiences which concern only man's physical substance, but man in his
entirety and in his somatic-spiritual unity. For that matter, it is known how
often the illness which is manifested in the body has its origins and its true
cause in the recesses of' the human psyche.
Illness and suffering are phenomena which, if
examined in depth, always pose questions which go beyond medicine itself to
touch the essence of the human condition in this world (cf
Gaudium et Spes, no. 10).
'Therefore, it is easy to understand the importance, in the social-health
care services of the presence not only of pastors of souls, but also of workers
who are led by an integrally human view of illness and who as a result are able
to effect a fully human approach to theca sick parson who is suffering. For the
Christian, Christ's redemption and his salvific grace
reach the whole man in his human condition and therefore reach also illness,
suffering and death.
3. In civil society the social-health care
services sector has undergone an important and significant evolution in recent
years. On the one hand, access to assistance and health care, recognized as a
right of the citizen, has become generalized, consequently determining the
broadening of the structures and of the various health care services. On the
other hand, in order to meet these requirements, nations have established
appropriate ministries, passed ad hoc
legislation and adopted policies with specific health care aims. The United
Nations, for its part, has initiated the World Health Organization
This vast and complex sector directly concerns
the good of the human person and of society. Precisely for this reason it also
poses delicate and inevitable questions which involve not only the social and
organizational aspect, but also the exquisitely ethical and religious one,
since basic "human" events, such as suffering, illness and death, are
involved, with the related questions about the role of medicine and the mission
of the doctor with regard to the sick person. Theca new frontiers, then, opened
by the progress of science and its possible technical and therapeutic
applications, touch the most delicate spheres of life at its very sources and
in its most profound meaning.
4. For the Church's part, important above all
seems to be the work of the more organic investigation of the increasingly
complex problems which the health care workers must face in theca context of a
greater commitment to collaboration among groups and corresponding activities.
Today there are many organisms which directly engage Christians in the health
care sector: over and above the religious congregations and institutions, with
their social health care structures, there are organizations of Catholic
doctors, associations of paramedics, nurses, pharmacists, volunteer workers,
diocesan and interdiocesan, national and
international organisms which have sprung up to pursue the problems of medicine
and health. A better coordination of all these organisms is required. In my
discourse to Catholic doctors on 3 October 1982, 1 emphasized this neck: ''In
order to do this, individual action is not sufficient. Collective, intelligent,
well-planned, constant and generous work is required, and not only within the individual
countries, but also on an international scale. Coordination on a world-wide
level would, in fact, allow a better proclamation and a more effective defense
of your faith, of your culture, of your Christian commitment in scientific
research and in your profession" (Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo 11, V, 3 [1982] p. 674; L'Osservatore Romano in English, 25 October).
5. In the first place, this coordination must
be understood to promote and spread an ever better ethical-religious formation
of Christian health care workers in the world, keeping in mind the different
situations and specific problems which they must face in carrying out their
profession. It will be addressed, then, to better sustain, promote and
intensify the necessary activities of study, investigation and proposals in
relation to the aforementioned specific problems of health care service in the
context of the Christian view of man's true good.
In this field today there have arisen delicate
and grave problems of an ethical nature, concerning which the Church and
Christians must courageously and lucidly intervene to safeguard essential
values and rights connected with the dignity and the supreme destiny of the
human person.
6. In the light of these considerations, and
supported by the opinion of experts, priests, religious and laity, I have
arranged to constitute a Pontifical
Commission for the Apostolate of Health Care Workers, which will serve as
the coordinating organism for all theca Catholic institutions, religious and
lay, committed to the apostolate of the sick. It will be connected with the
Pontifical Council for the Laity, of which it will be an organic part, although
maintaining its own organizational and operational individuality.
The duties of the Commission will be the
following:
—to
stimulate and foster the work of formation, study and action carried out by
theca various intentional Catholic organizations, as well as by other groups,
associations and organizations which, on various levels and in various ways,
operate in this sector;
—to
coordinate the activities carried out by the various departments of the Roman
Curia in relation to the health care world and its problems;
—to spread,
explain and defend the Church's teachings on the subject of health care, and to
encourage their penetration into health care practices;
—to
maintain contacts with theca local Churches and, in particular, with the
Episcopal commissions for the health care world;
—to follow
carefully and to study organizational orientations and concrete initiatives of
health care policies on both the international and the national levels, with
the purpose of discerning their relevance and implications for the Church's
apostolate.
The Pontifical Commission will be presided over
by the Cardinal President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and will be
managed by a coordination group headed by a Pro-President (Archbishop) and a
Secretary (not a bishop).
It is the
President's task to direct the Plenary Assemblies of the Members and Consultors. In addition, the President will be informed in
advance of decisions of major importance and will be kept up to date on the
ordinary activity of the Commission.
It will be the Pro-President's task to promote,
manage, preside over and coordinate the organizational and operational activities
of the Pontifical Commission.
The Members and Consultors,
appointed by me, will represent:
a) some
departments and organisms of the Roman Curia (Secretariat of State;
Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the Eastern Churches, for
Religious and the Secular Institutes, for the Evangelization of Peoples, and
for Catholic Education; the Pontifical Council Cor
Unum, the Pontifical Council for the Family the Pontifical Academy of
Sciences);
b) the
Episcopate (Episcopal Commissions for the health care world);
c)
religious orders engaged in hospital work;
d) the
laity (representatives of the international Catholic organizations and other
groups and associations which operate in the health care field and in the world
of suffering) .
In fulfilling its mission, the Pontifical
Commission may seek the collaboration of experts and establish ad hoc working groups on specific
questions.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter's on February 11,
1985, the seventh year of our Pontificate