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Voices Online Edition
Lent/Easter 2003
Volume XVIII, No. 1
Message for World Day of the Sick
Pope John Paul II
Following are
excerpts from Pope John Paul II's message for the Eleventh World
Day of the sick, held in Washington DC on February 11, 2003 at
the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.
The entire message can be read on the WFF web site at www.wf-f.org/JPII-WorldDayofSick11th.html
[Spanish]
We have seen
and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of
the world.... We know and believe the love God has for us"
(I Jn 4:14,16). **Women for Faith &
Family operates
solely on your generous donations! WFF is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations are tax deductible.
These words of the apostle John are a good summary of what the
Church seeks to do through her pastoral work in the area of health
care. Recognizing the presence of the Lord in our suffering brothers
and sisters, she strives to bring them the good news of the Gospel
and to offer them authentic signs of love.
This is the context of the Eleventh World Day of the Sick....
Urgent questions about suffering and death, dramatically present
in the heart of every person despite the continual attempts by
a secular mentality to remove them or ignore them, await satisfactory
answers. Especially in the presence of tragic human experiences,
the Christian is called to bear witness to the consoling truth
of the Risen Lord, who takes upon himself the wounds and ills
of humanity, including death itself, and transforms them into
occasions of grace and life. This proclamation and this witness
are to be delivered to everyone, in every corner of the world.
2. Through the celebration of this World Day of the Sick, may
the Gospel of life and love resound loudly, especially in the
Americas, where more than half the world's Catholics live. On
the continents of North and South America, as elsewhere in the
world, "a model of society appears to be emerging in which
the powerful predominate, setting aside and even eliminating
the powerless: I am thinking here of unborn children, helpless
victims of abortion; the elderly and incurable ill, subjected
at times to euthanasia; and the many other people relegated to
the margins of society by consumerism and materialism. Nor can
I fail to mention the unnecessary recourse to the death penalty....
This model of society bears the stamp of the culture of death,
and is therefore in opposition to the Gospel message" (Apostolic
Exhortation Ecclesia In America, 63). Faced with this
worrying fact, how can we fail to include the defense of the
culture of life among our pastoral priorities? Catholics working
in the field of health care have the urgent task of doing all
they can to defend life when it is most seriously threatened
and to act with a conscience correctly formed according to the
teaching of the Church....
3. This privileged apostolate involves all local Churches. It
is therefore necessary that every Episcopal Conference, through
appropriate structures, should seek to promote, guide and coordinate
the pastoral care of the sick, so that the whole People of God
become aware of and sensitive to the many different needs of
the suffering.
In order to make this witness of love practical, those involved
in the pastoral care of the sick must act in full communion among
themselves and with their Bishops. This is of particular importance
in Catholic hospitals, which in responding to modern needs are
called upon to reflect ever more clearly in their policies the
values of the Gospel, as the Magisterium's social and moral guidelines
insist. This requires united involvement on the part of Catholic
hospitals in every sector, including that of finance and administration.
Catholic hospitals should be centers of life and hope which promote
-- together with chaplaincies -- ethics committees, training
programs for lay health workers, personal and compassionate care
of the sick, attention to the needs of their families and a particular
sensitivity to the poor and the marginalized....
4. This truth should be continuously repeated in the context
of scientific progress and advances in medical techniques which
seek to assist and improve the quality of human life. Indeed,
it remains a fundamental precept that life is to [be] protected
and defended, from its conception to its natural end.
As I stated in my Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, "The service of
humanity leads us to insist, in season and out of season, that
those using the latest advances of science, especially in the
field of biotechnology, must never disregard fundamental ethical
requirements by invoking a questionable solidarity which eventually
leads to discriminating between one life and another and ignoring
the dignity which belongs to every human being" (No. 51).
The Church, which is open to genuine scientific and technological
progress, values the effort and sacrifice of those who with dedication
and professionalism help to improve the quality of the service
rendered to the sick, respecting their inviolable dignity. Every
therapeutic procedure, all experimentation and every transplant
must take into account this fundamental truth. Thus it is never
licit to kill one human being in order to save another. And while
palliative treatment in the final stage of life can be encouraged,
avoiding a "treatment at all costs" mentality, it will
never be permissible to resort to actions or omissions which
by their nature or in the intention of the person acting are
designed to bring about death....
I entrust you all to the Immaculate Virgin, our Lady of Guadalupe,
Patroness of the Americas and Health of the Sick. May she hear
the prayers that rise from the world of suffering, may she dry
the tears of those in pain, may she stand beside those who are
alone in their illness, and by her motherly intercession may
she help believers who work in the field of health care to be
credible witnesses to Christ's love.
