Pope urges caring for the sick with competence and mercy
“God’s mercy embraces both fatherhood and motherhood,” writes Pope Francis. “Be mindful of the great dignity of your profession, as well as the responsibility that it entails,” he tells the “Dear healthcare workers”. Among them “countless missionaries have combined the preaching of the Gospel with the construction of hospitals, dispensaries and care homes. These are precious means whereby Christian charity has taken visible shape and the love of Christ”.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis today released his message for the 30th World Day of the Sick, which falls on 11 February centred this year on theme Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful (Lk 6:36).
The pontiff writes that caring for the sick is “paramount in the mission of the apostles” and caregivers are “witnesses to God’s charity”, starting with health workers and those Christians who open many “inns of the Good Samaritan” that offer care and the mercy that “is God’s name par excellence”.
Speaking about the latter, Francis writes that “Mercy makes us first turn our gaze towards God, who is ‘rich in mercy’ (Eph 2:4)”, which “is God’s name par excellence; mercy, understood not as an occasional sentimental feeling but as an ever-present and active force, expresses God’s very nature. It combines strength and tenderness. For this reason, we can say with wonder and gratitude that God’s mercy embraces both fatherhood and motherhood (cf. Is 49:15). God cares for us with the strength of a father and the tenderness of a mother; he unceasingly desires to give us new life in the Holy Spirit.”
Noting that Jesus healed many sick people, Francis goes on to write that many sick people feel isolated and “experience frailty and suffering in their own flesh as a result of illness,” so that their “hearts become heavy” with anxiety and fear.
This is the case for “all those patients who, during this time of pandemic spent the last part of their earthly life in solitude, in an intensive care unit, assisted by generous healthcare workers, yet far from their loved ones and the most important people in their lives”.
Francis notes that the World Day of the Sick, instituted by John Paul II, will be celebrated in the Vatican Basilica and not in Arequipa in Peru due to the pandemic, providing an opportunity to take stock of the progress made by science and the pastoral care of the sick.
Diseases primarily involve health workers. Addressing them directly, Francis says: “Dear healthcare workers, your service alongside the sick, carried out with love and competence, transcends the bounds of your profession and becomes a mission. [. . .] Be mindful of the great dignity of your profession, as well as the responsibility that it entails.”
“Patients are always more important than their diseases, and for this reason, no therapeutic approach can prescind from listening to the patient, his or her history, anxieties and fears. Even when healing is not possible, care can always be given. It is always possible to console, it is always possible to make people sense a closeness that is more interested in the person than in his or her pathology. For this reason, I would hope that the training provided to health workers might enable them to develop a capacity for listening and relating to others.”
This includes the pastoral care for the sick. In fact, “we cannot fail to offer them God’s closeness, his blessing and his word, as well as the celebration of the sacraments and the opportunity for a journey of growth and maturation in faith.” In fact, everyone is called to be close. “How many sick and elderly people are living at home and waiting for a visit!”
This is the approach of Catholic health facilities, where “countless missionaries have combined the preaching of the Gospel with the construction of hospitals, dispensaries and care homes. These are precious means whereby Christian charity has taken visible shape and the love of Christ, witnessed by that of his disciples, has become more credible.
“I think especially of people in the poorest areas of our planet, where it is sometimes necessary to travel long distances to find treatment centres that, albeit with limited resources, offer what is available. We still have a long way to go; in some countries, access to adequate care remains a luxury. We see this, for example, in the scarcity of available vaccines against Covid-19 in poor countries; but even more in the lack of treatment for illnesses that require much simpler medicines.”
“How many founders of religious families have listened to the cry of their brothers and sisters who lack access to care or are poorly cared for, and have given their utmost in their service! Today too, even in the most developed countries, their presence is a blessing, since in addition to caring for the body with all necessary expertise, they can always offer the gift of charity, which focuses on the sick themselves and their families.
“At a time in which the culture of waste is widespread and life is not always acknowledged as worthy of being welcomed and lived, these structures, like ‘houses of mercy’, can be exemplary in protecting and caring for all life, even the most fragile, from its beginning until its natural end.”
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