During the angelus, Benedict XVI, referring to the next World Day of the Sick, urges all health care professionals to recognize in patients "first and foremost the person, gifting them solidarity and providing appropriate and competent responses." The new generation of health care must be bearers of a renewed culture of life.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - A prayer for Egypt to find a peaceful coexistence, an exhortation to those who work in the world of health care to look at the sick first and foremost as a person in need of help and solidarity and the hope that "the new generations of healthcare workers will be the bearers of a renewed culture of life" these were the topics that Benedict XVI touched on in his address to 30 thousand people in St. Peter's Square for the Angelus.

Recalling that on 11 February, the day dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, we celebrate the World Day of the Sick, the pope said that "it is a propitious occasion to reflect, to pray and to increase awareness of the ecclesial community and civil society towards our brothers and sisters who are sick. In the message for the Day, inspired by a phrase from the First Letter of Peter: "By his wounds you were healed" (2:24), I invite everyone to contemplate Jesus, the Son of God, who suffered, died, but rose again. God is diametrically opposed to the power of evil. The Lord cares for man in every situation, He shares his pain and opens his heart to hope. I therefore urge all healthcare workers to recognize in the sick person not only a body marked by weakness, but first and foremost a person, gifting solidarity and providing appropriate and competent responses”.

In this context, Benedict XVI, taking a cue from today's celebration in Italy, of the "Day for Life" expressed the hope that "everyone will strive to help a culture of life grow, to put the value of human beings at the centre in all circumstances. According to faith and reason, the dignity of the person is irreducible to its faculties or capabilities that he may manifest, and therefore does not end when the person himself is weak, disabled and in need of help". On the same theme, after the Marian prayer, greeting a delegation of the faculty of Medicine of the University of Rome, he said that "when scientific and technological research is driven by genuine ethical values it can find suitable solutions for the welcoming of unborn life and the promotion of motherhood. I hope that new generations of health care workers will be the bearers of a renewed culture of life ".

And after the Angelus, Benedict XVI concluded by saying he has been closely following "the delicate situation of the beloved country Egypt. I pray to God - he concluded - that that land, blessed by the presence of the Holy Family, may find tranquillity and peaceful coexistence once again, in a shared commitment for the common good. "

• Vatican
• Benedict
• xvi
• angelus
• appeal
• Egypt
• life
• healthcare
• workers