Vatican Academy for Life's Assembly with Theme “The End of the World? Crises, Responsibilities, Hopes” Awards Nun for Ukrainian "Perinatal Hospice"

Sister Giustina Olha Holubets, SSMI, was awarded the “Guardian of Life” award from Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia of the Pontifical Academy for Life at the Vatican.

She runs the non-profit organization "Perinatal Hospice - Imprint of Life," which  has become an important resource for all these Ukrainian couples who find themselves in this situation by proving perinatal palliative care in Ukraine.

 The Holy See Press Office presents the Pontifical Academy for Life's General Assembly taking place this week on the theme “The End of the World? Crises, Responsibilities, Hopes."

The 2025 General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, focusing on the theme “The End of the World? Crises, Responsibilities, Hopes,” is taking place on March 3-5 at the Pontifical Patristic Institute Augustinianum in Rome.

The international conference, brings together Nobel Laureates, planetologists, physicists, biologists, paleoanthropologists, theologians, and historians.
Speakers at the press conference included Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life; Professor Katalin Karikó, Nobel Prize winner for Medicine 2023; Professor Guido Tonelli, University of Pisa, Italy; Professor Henk ten Have, Anáhuac University in Mexico City, Mexico; and Sister Giustina Holha Holubets, SSMI, NGO Perinatal Hospice, Lviv, Ukraine.

The Holy Father had sent a message of encouragement to the Assembly participants, which the Press Office published on Monday.

The Deputy Director of the Holy See Press Office, Cristiane Murray, acknowledged that everyone is praying together for Pope Francis as he receives treatment for bilateral pneumonia at Rome's Gemelli hospital.

Nobel Prize Winner, Dr. Karikó, expressed her delight for the encounter, observing that, especially amid all that is happening around the world, there is so much common ground that enables scientists and experts to accomplish significant achievements together.

Professor Guido Tonelli reflected on the evolution over time of science and technology and how our lives have "radically changed" due to these changes.

At the same time, he noted that, despite including a series of risks, technological advances present an abundance of possibilities and developments for humanity.

Professor Henk ten Hav  highlighted that education has a key role to provide a solution to this doom and gloom perspective, which, he noted, is not a new phenomenon but has been overcome before. Therefore, he explained the necessity of placing these viewpoints within a historic context.

Award-winning Sister Giustina Holha Holubets reflected on her experience as a clinical psychologist at the Lviv Medical Genetic Center at the Institute of Hereditary Pathology of National Academy of Medical Science of Ukraine and as President of the "Perinatal Hospice ‒ Imprint of Life."

While she recognized that often among doctors certain prenatal diagnoses reflecting congenital and hereditary defects often lead to abortion, there are nonetheless couples who decide not to abort and continue the pregnancy.

 "Perinatal Hospice - Imprint of Life," she explained, has become an important resource for all these Ukrainian couples who find themselves in this situation by proving perinatal palliative care in Ukraine.

After beginning its activity in 2013 and operating in Lviv since 2017, the organization has expanded its activities to other cities of Ukraine to help parents and their terminally ill children with highly qualified and multidisciplinary care.

Over the past decade, Sister Giustina said she has seen a rise in awareness that perinatal hospice offers children a place of true love, in which a group of professionals provide support to parents and relatives until the child is born.

Source Vatican News