BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Pope urges greater concern
for the sick and suffering


3 FEB 2011 (RV) - Pope Benedict XVI's Message for the nineteenth World Day of the Sick on February 11 was discussed Thursday at a Vatican news conference, during which the Pontifical Council for Ministry to Healthcare Workers also announced a seminar on the theme "Catholic healthcare associations and the culture of life", to be held on February 5 in Rome to mark the end of the Couuncil's wenty-fifth anniversary celebrations.

Participating in today's conference were Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, Bishop Jose Luis Redrado Marchite O.H. and Msgr. Jean-Marie Mpendawatu Mate Musivi, respectively president, secretary and under secretary of the Council, and Rosa Merola, psychologist at Rome's Rebibbia prison and consultor to the Council.

Archbishop Zimowski explained how Benedict XVI's Message - published on 18 December 2010 - encourages people to reflect "on the mystery of human suffering in the light of Christian faith".

At the same time, he calls for greater sensitivity, within Christian communities and civil society, towards our brothers and sisters who are experiencing situations of suffering and illness, that no-one may be abandoned or deprived of the treatment they need.

Here once again is the full text of the Pope's message:

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"By his wounds you have been healed". (1Pt 2,23)

Dear brothers and sisters:

Every year, when we commemorate the Feast of the Blessed Virgin of Lourdes, on February 11, the Church observes the World Day for the Sick.

This occasion, first proposed by the Venerable John Paul II, is propitious for reflecting on the mystery of suffering, and above all, for making our communities and civilian society more sensitive towards our ailing brothers and sisters.

If every man is our brother, the more so should we place the weak, the suffering, and those who need care, at the center of our attention so that none of them may feel forgotten or marginalized.

Indeed, the true measure of humanity is essentially determined in relation to suffering and to the sufferer. This holds true both for the individual and for society. A society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their suffering and to bear it inwardly is a cruel and inhuman society. (Spe salvi, 38).

May the initiatives that will be promoted in individual dioceses on this Day for the Sick, be a stimulus for more effective care of those who suffer, in the context as well of the solemn celebration to be held in 2013 at the Marian shrine in Altoetting, Germany.

1. I still hold in my heart the moment when, during my pastoral visit to Turin, I was able to pause in reflection and prayer before the Holy Shroud, in front of that suffering face that invites us to meditate on Him who took on himself the passion of all men in all times and in all places, including our own sufferings, our difficulties, our sins.

How many faithful, in the course of history, have paused before that funereal cloth which wrapped the body of a crucified man, who corresponds in every way to what the Gospels tell us about the Passion and Death of Jesus!

To contemplate the face is an invitation to reflect on what St. Peter wrote: "By his wounds you have been healed" (1Pt 2,24). The Son of God has suffered - he died, but he rose again, and because of these, those wounds have become the sign of our redemption, of forgiveness and reconciliation with the Father.

But they are also a benchmark for the faith of his disciples and for our faith. Every time that the Lord spoke of his passion and death, the disciples did not understand, they rejected and opposed it. For them, as for us, suffering always remains charged with mystery, difficult to accept and to bear.

The two disciples in Emmaus were walking in sadness because of the events that had taken place in Jerusalem, and only when the Risen One walked with them on the road were they open to a new view (cfr. Lk 24, 13-31).

Even the Apostle Thomas showed the difficulty of believing in the way of redemptive passion: "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe" (Jn 20,25).

But in front of Christ who showed his wounds, his response was transformed into a moving profession of faith: "My Lord and my God! (Jn 20,28). What was once an insurmountable obstacle, because it was a sign of Jesus's apparent failure, had become, in the encounter with the Risen Lord, the proof of victorious love: "Only a God who loves us to the point of taking upon himself our wounds and our pain, especially, the innocent, is worthy of faith" (Urbi et Orbi Message, Easter 2007).

2. Dear people who are sick and suffering, it is precisely through the wounds of Christ that we can see, with eyes of hope, all the evils that afflict mankind. In resurrecting, the Lord did not take away all the suffering and evil in the world, but he conquered them at their root.

To the arrogance of evil, he opposed the omnipotence of his Love. "As I have loved you, so you also should love one another" (Jn 13,34). Christ, who triumphed over death, lives among us. And while we too say with St. Thomas, "My Lord and my God!", let us follow our Master in the readiness to give our life for our brothers (cfr 1 Jn 3,16), becoming messengers of a joy that does not fear pain, the joy of Resurrection.

St. Bernard affirms: "God cannot suffer, but he can suffer with us". [In Italian, there is a word play between 'patire', to suffer, and 'com-patire', to suffer with, i.e., to have compassion.]

God, who is Truth and Love personified, suffered for us and with us. He became man in order to be able to 'suffer with' man, in a real way, in flesh and blood.

Thus, in every human suffering, we are joined by one who experiences and carries that suffering with us; hence 'con-solatio' is present in all suffering, the consolation of God's compassionate love — and so the star of hope rises. (Spe salvi, 39).

To you, dear brothers and sisters, I repeat this message so that you may be witnesses through your suffering, your life and your faith.

3. Looking forward to the World Youth Day in Madrid next August, I also wish to address young people, especially those who are experiencing sickness.

Often the Passion, the Cross of Jesus, frightens us because it seems to be a denial of life. In fact, the opposite is true! It is God’s “yes” to mankind, the supreme expression of his love and the source from which eternal life flows. From Jesus’s heart, pierced on the Cross, this divine life streamed forth. He alone can free the world from evil and bring about the growth of the Kingdom of justice, peace and love to which we all aspire. (cfr Message for World Youth Day 2011)

Dear young people, learn to “see” and to “meet” Jesus in the Eucharist, where he is present and close to us, and even becomes food for our journey. But also learn to recognize and serve Jesus in the poor, the sick, and in our brothers and sisters who are in difficulty and in need of help (cfr, ibid., 4).

To all young people, healthy and sick, I repeat the invitation to build bridges of love and solidarity, so that no one may feel alone, but close to God and part of the great family of his children(cfr General audience, Nov. 15, 2006).

4. Contemplating the wounds of Jesus, our gaze turns to his Most Sacred Heart, in which is manifested the supreme degree of God's love. The Sacred Heart is Christ crucified, with blood and water gushing from his side slashed open by the lance (cfr Jn 19,34), "symbol of the sacraments of the Church, so that all men, drawn to the Heart of the Savior, may drink with joy at the perennial source of salvation" (Roman Missal, Preface to the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus).

You especially, dear persons who are ailing, must feel the nearness of this heart which is full of love, and draw with faith and joy from this source, praying: "Water from the side of Christ, wash me! Passion of Christ, strengthen me! Good Jesus, hear me. In your wounds, shelter me" (Prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola).

5. At the end of this message, for the next World Day of the Sick, I wish to express my affection for each and everyone, feeling myself a participant in the sufferings and the hopes that you experience daily, in union with Christ crucified and resurrected, so that he may give you peace and healing of heart.

Together with him, may the Virgin Mary watch over you, she whom we trustfully invoke as the Health of the Sick and Comfort of the Afflicted.

At the foot of the Cross, the prophecy of Simeon was realized for her: her Mother's heart was pierced (cfr Lk 2,35). From the abyss of her pain, participating in that of her Son, Mary was made capable of accepting her new mission: to be the Mother of Christ in his members.

On the Cross, Jesus commended each of his disciples to her, saying: "Behold your son" (cfr Jn 19,26-27). Maternal compassion for her Son became maternal compassion for each of us in our daily sufferings (cfr Homily, Lourdes, Sept. 15, 2009).

Dear brothers and sisters, on this World Day of the Sick, I also call on the authorities so that they may invest more efforts in health structures and systems which can help and sustain those who suffer, especially the poor and the needy.

Turning my thoughts to all the dioceses, I send an affectionate greeting to all bishops, priests, consecrated persons, seminarians, health care workers, volunteers, and all those who dedicate themselves with love, to care for and alleviate the pain in every sick brother and sister, in hospitals and hospices, in families.

In the faces of the sick, learn to always see the Face of faces - that of Christ. To all, I assure remembrance in my prayers, as I impart to each one a special Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican
November 21, 2010
Feast of Christ, King of the Universe

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Vatican plans international conference
and pastoral guidelines on AIDS care
By John Thavis


VATICAN CITY, Feb. 3 (CNS) -- The Vatican will host international scientists at a conference on AIDS in late May, an encounter church officials hope will help clarify Pope Benedict XVI's recent comments on condom use in AIDS prevention, a Vatican official said.

Following the one-day conference May 28, the Vatican plans to publish a handbook of pastoral guidelines for Catholic health care workers on AIDS care and prevention, Msgr. Jean-Marie Mpendawatu, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, said Feb. 3.

Msgr. Mpendawatu said the Vatican conference and the subsequent guidelines would take a "global" approach to the AIDS question, and not focus on condoms. But he said the condom issue would be addressed, in the wake of the recent debate over Pope Benedict's remarks and a Vatican doctrinal note that followed.

In the book-length interview, Light of the World published in November, the pope said that while condoms were not the answer to the AIDS epidemic, the use of condoms may be a sign of moral responsibility in some specific situations when the intention is to reduce the risk of infection. He gave the example of a prostitute.

The papal comments sparked discussion and debate, including among Catholic health care professionals. In December, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued an explanatory note saying the Pope's remarks did not signify a change in the Church's moral teaching or its pastoral practice, in particular on birth control.

Msgr. Mpendawatu said that among those attending the May conference would be leading scientific experts on AIDS, including Michel Sibide, executive director of the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS. He said ranking Vatican officials would also address the conference, and explain to participants in further detail the points made in the doctrinal congregation's note.

"Sometimes there is a problem of understanding, of explaining things well: What did the pope say, really, authentically? What is the thinking of the pope?" he said.

He said the results of the May conference, which will look at the Church's global effort to assist AIDS patients, would also represent a contribution to the 6th International AIDS Society scientific conference to be held in Rome July 17-20.

Msgr. Mpendawatu said the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry would probably issue the pastoral guidelines on AIDS care and prevention sometime later in 2011, after review by Vatican doctrinal officials.

The pontifical council provides guidance and assistance to Catholic health care institutions, organizations and individual professionals, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

The council also is preparing to update its "Charter for Health Care Workers," which dates to 1994. The charter was framed by the principle that all health care must be performed in the service of life and with full respect for the human person, and new bioethical issues need to be addressed, he said.