Pope Francis says "As a Church, we are called to respond above all to the demand for health care of the poorest..." to Healthcare Institutes - FULL TEXT
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Audience with the Members of the Religious Association of Social-Healthcare Institutes (ARIS), 04.13.2023
This morning, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the members of the Religious Association of Social-Healthcare Institutes (ARIS) and addressed them the speech which we publish below:
Speech of the Holy Father
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
I thank the President, Father Virginio Bebber, for his words, and I welcome you all. I greet the Director of the Office for the Pastoral Care of Health of the Italian Episcopal Conference.
I am pleased to meet your Association, engaged in the management of Christian-inspired health structures, comparable to the inn of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:25-37), where the sick can receive "the oil of consolation and the wine of hope »[1].
I express my appreciation for the good done in the many healthcare institutes present in Italy and I encourage them to carry them forward with the perseverance and imagination of charity, typical of many founders who gave life to them.
Religious health care in Italy has a beautiful and centuries-old history. The Church has done a lot, through health care, to listen to and pay attention to the poor, weak and abandoned sections of society. Authoritative witnesses were not lacking in this area, who knew how to recognize and serve the sick and suffering Christ to the point of giving himself completely, even with the sacrifice of his life. We think of San Camillo de Lellis, Santa Giuseppina Vannini, San Giuseppe Moscati, Santa Agostina Pietrantoni and many others. Grateful for the past, we therefore feel called to live in the present with active commitment and with a prophetic spirit. In the healthcare sector, the culture of waste can show its painful consequences more than elsewhere, sometimes clearly. In fact, when the sick person is not placed at the center and considered in his or her dignity, attitudes are generated which can even lead to speculating on the misfortunes of others [2], and this must make us vigilant.
Let us ask ourselves in particular: what is the task of Christian-inspired health institutions in a context, such as the Italian one, where there is a national health service by its universalistic vocation, and therefore called to provide for the care of all? To answer this question, it is necessary to recover the founding charism of Catholic health care to apply it in this new historical situation, also aware that today, for various reasons, it is increasingly difficult to maintain existing structures. It is necessary to undertake paths of discernment and make courageous choices, reminding ourselves that our vocation is to stand on the frontier of need; our vocation is that: on the frontier of need. As a Church, we are called to respond above all to the demand for health care of the poorest, the excluded and those who, for economic or cultural reasons, see their needs not being met. These are the most important to us, the ones that are at the top of the queue: these.
The return of "health poverty" is assuming important proportions in Italy, above all in the Regions marked by more difficult socio-economic situations. There are people who are unable to get treatment due to lack of means, for whom even paying a ticket is a problem; and there are people who have difficulty accessing health services due to very long waiting lists, even for urgent and necessary visits! Furthermore, the need for intermediate care is increasingly higher, given the growing tendency of hospitals to discharge patients in a short time, favoring the treatment of the more acute phases of the disease over that of chronic pathologies: consequently these, especially for the elderly, they are also becoming a serious problem from an economic point of view, with the risk of favoring paths that do not respect the very dignity of people. An elderly person must take medicine, and if to save money or for this or that reason they do not give him these medicines, it is a hidden and progressive euthanasia. We have to say this. Every person has the right to medicines. And many times – I think of other countries, in Italy I don't know much about this, in other countries yes, I know – the elderly who have to take four or five medicines and only manage to get two: this is progressive euthanasia, because there is no them what they need to heal themselves.
Christian-inspired health care has the duty to defend the right to care especially for the weakest sections of society, favoring places where people are most suffering and least cared for, even if this may require the conversion of existing services towards new realities. Every sick person is by definition fragile, poor, in need of help, and sometimes the rich find themselves more alone and abandoned than the poor. However, it is evident that today there are different opportunities for access to care for those who have financial resources compared to the most deprived people. And so, thinking of so many congregations, born in different historical periods with courageous charisms, let us ask ourselves: what would these Founders and Foundresses do today?
Religious hospitals above all have the mission of caring for those who are rejected by the health economy and by a certain contemporary culture. This was the prophecy of many Christian-inspired health institutions, starting with the birth of the hospitals themselves, created precisely to treat those that no one wanted to touch. Let this be your testimony even today, supported by a competent and clear management, capable of combining research, innovation, dedication to the last and an overall vision.
The reality is complex and you will be able to face it adequately only if religiously inspired healthcare institutions have the courage to get together and network, shunning any spirit of competition, combining skills and resources and perhaps setting up new legal entities, through which to help above all the smaller realities. Don't be afraid to take new paths – risk, risk – in order to prevent our hospitals from being alienated, solely for economic reasons – this is a danger and a current one too: here in Rome, I can send you the list -, thus nullifying a heritage long guarded and embellished by many sacrifices. Precisely to achieve these two urgent goals and at the request of the Catholic-inspired health institutions themselves, the Pontifical Commission for the Activities of the Health Sector of Public Juridical Persons of the Church was born in December 2015, with which I invite you to have an active and constructive collaboration .
Finally, I would like to recommend that you accompany the people you welcome into your institutions with integral care, which does not neglect the spiritual and religious assistance of the sick, their families and health professionals. Christian-inspired health care institutions should be exemplary in this too. And it is not just a question of offering sacramental pastoral care, but of giving complete attention to the person. No one, no one should feel alone in their illness! On the contrary, each one should be supported in his questions of meaning and helped to walk the road, sometimes long and tiring, of infirmity with Christian hope.
Dear brothers and sisters, keep the charism of your Founders alive, not so much to imitate their gestures, but rather to welcome their spirit, not so much to defend the past, as to build a present and future in which to proclaim, with your presence, the closeness of God to the sick, especially to the most disadvantaged and marginalized by the logic of profit. Our Lady accompany you. I warmly bless you and bless your work. And please, don't forget to pray for me. Thank you.
________________________
[1] Roman Missal, Common Preface VIII.
[2] See Address to the Episcopal Commission for the Service of Charity and Health of the CEI, 10 February 2017.
This morning, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the members of the Religious Association of Social-Healthcare Institutes (ARIS) and addressed them the speech which we publish below:
Speech of the Holy Father
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
I thank the President, Father Virginio Bebber, for his words, and I welcome you all. I greet the Director of the Office for the Pastoral Care of Health of the Italian Episcopal Conference.
I am pleased to meet your Association, engaged in the management of Christian-inspired health structures, comparable to the inn of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:25-37), where the sick can receive "the oil of consolation and the wine of hope »[1].
I express my appreciation for the good done in the many healthcare institutes present in Italy and I encourage them to carry them forward with the perseverance and imagination of charity, typical of many founders who gave life to them.
Religious health care in Italy has a beautiful and centuries-old history. The Church has done a lot, through health care, to listen to and pay attention to the poor, weak and abandoned sections of society. Authoritative witnesses were not lacking in this area, who knew how to recognize and serve the sick and suffering Christ to the point of giving himself completely, even with the sacrifice of his life. We think of San Camillo de Lellis, Santa Giuseppina Vannini, San Giuseppe Moscati, Santa Agostina Pietrantoni and many others. Grateful for the past, we therefore feel called to live in the present with active commitment and with a prophetic spirit. In the healthcare sector, the culture of waste can show its painful consequences more than elsewhere, sometimes clearly. In fact, when the sick person is not placed at the center and considered in his or her dignity, attitudes are generated which can even lead to speculating on the misfortunes of others [2], and this must make us vigilant.
Let us ask ourselves in particular: what is the task of Christian-inspired health institutions in a context, such as the Italian one, where there is a national health service by its universalistic vocation, and therefore called to provide for the care of all? To answer this question, it is necessary to recover the founding charism of Catholic health care to apply it in this new historical situation, also aware that today, for various reasons, it is increasingly difficult to maintain existing structures. It is necessary to undertake paths of discernment and make courageous choices, reminding ourselves that our vocation is to stand on the frontier of need; our vocation is that: on the frontier of need. As a Church, we are called to respond above all to the demand for health care of the poorest, the excluded and those who, for economic or cultural reasons, see their needs not being met. These are the most important to us, the ones that are at the top of the queue: these.
The return of "health poverty" is assuming important proportions in Italy, above all in the Regions marked by more difficult socio-economic situations. There are people who are unable to get treatment due to lack of means, for whom even paying a ticket is a problem; and there are people who have difficulty accessing health services due to very long waiting lists, even for urgent and necessary visits! Furthermore, the need for intermediate care is increasingly higher, given the growing tendency of hospitals to discharge patients in a short time, favoring the treatment of the more acute phases of the disease over that of chronic pathologies: consequently these, especially for the elderly, they are also becoming a serious problem from an economic point of view, with the risk of favoring paths that do not respect the very dignity of people. An elderly person must take medicine, and if to save money or for this or that reason they do not give him these medicines, it is a hidden and progressive euthanasia. We have to say this. Every person has the right to medicines. And many times – I think of other countries, in Italy I don't know much about this, in other countries yes, I know – the elderly who have to take four or five medicines and only manage to get two: this is progressive euthanasia, because there is no them what they need to heal themselves.
Christian-inspired health care has the duty to defend the right to care especially for the weakest sections of society, favoring places where people are most suffering and least cared for, even if this may require the conversion of existing services towards new realities. Every sick person is by definition fragile, poor, in need of help, and sometimes the rich find themselves more alone and abandoned than the poor. However, it is evident that today there are different opportunities for access to care for those who have financial resources compared to the most deprived people. And so, thinking of so many congregations, born in different historical periods with courageous charisms, let us ask ourselves: what would these Founders and Foundresses do today?
Religious hospitals above all have the mission of caring for those who are rejected by the health economy and by a certain contemporary culture. This was the prophecy of many Christian-inspired health institutions, starting with the birth of the hospitals themselves, created precisely to treat those that no one wanted to touch. Let this be your testimony even today, supported by a competent and clear management, capable of combining research, innovation, dedication to the last and an overall vision.
The reality is complex and you will be able to face it adequately only if religiously inspired healthcare institutions have the courage to get together and network, shunning any spirit of competition, combining skills and resources and perhaps setting up new legal entities, through which to help above all the smaller realities. Don't be afraid to take new paths – risk, risk – in order to prevent our hospitals from being alienated, solely for economic reasons – this is a danger and a current one too: here in Rome, I can send you the list -, thus nullifying a heritage long guarded and embellished by many sacrifices. Precisely to achieve these two urgent goals and at the request of the Catholic-inspired health institutions themselves, the Pontifical Commission for the Activities of the Health Sector of Public Juridical Persons of the Church was born in December 2015, with which I invite you to have an active and constructive collaboration .
Finally, I would like to recommend that you accompany the people you welcome into your institutions with integral care, which does not neglect the spiritual and religious assistance of the sick, their families and health professionals. Christian-inspired health care institutions should be exemplary in this too. And it is not just a question of offering sacramental pastoral care, but of giving complete attention to the person. No one, no one should feel alone in their illness! On the contrary, each one should be supported in his questions of meaning and helped to walk the road, sometimes long and tiring, of infirmity with Christian hope.
Dear brothers and sisters, keep the charism of your Founders alive, not so much to imitate their gestures, but rather to welcome their spirit, not so much to defend the past, as to build a present and future in which to proclaim, with your presence, the closeness of God to the sick, especially to the most disadvantaged and marginalized by the logic of profit. Our Lady accompany you. I warmly bless you and bless your work. And please, don't forget to pray for me. Thank you.
________________________
[1] Roman Missal, Common Preface VIII.
[2] See Address to the Episcopal Commission for the Service of Charity and Health of the CEI, 10 February 2017.
https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/04/13/0269/00582.html
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