On the morning of this Saturday, June 4, Pope Francis received leaders of the Italian Confederation “Federsanità”, a health company that works for the social and health integration of the population. The meeting was held at the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican on 4 June in the morning.
Pope Francis proposed different “antidotes” to current problems in the health field in his speech.
In the first place, he spoke of proximity as an antidote to self-referentiality and explained that closeness “breaks the chains of selfishness, knocks down the pedestal that we are sometimes tempted to climb on and encourages us to recognize each other as brothers.”
“Ours is the God of proximity, who has chosen to take our flesh; he is not a distant and unattainable God. He walks with us, on the rough roads of this world, as he did with the disciples of Emmaus”.
The Holy Father assured that “God asks us to do the same” and said that this proximity “is even more important when we find ourselves in sickness and suffering.”
He then spoke of totality as an antidote to fragmentation and partiality, assuring that “we must rethink the concept of health from a comprehensive perspective, encompassing all dimensions of the person.”
“When Jesus heals someone, he not only eradicates physical illness from his body but also restores his dignity, reintegrating him into society, giving him a new life,” he said.
As on other occasions, Pope Francis spoke of the “culture of discarding” and pointed out that “in a society that runs the risk of seeing the sick as a burden, a cost, we must return to the center what is not It has a price, it cannot be bought and it cannot be sold, that is, the dignity of the person”.
“Diseases can mark the body, confuse thoughts, take away strength, but they can never nullify the value of human life, which must always be protected, from its conception to its natural end,” he defended.
“I hope that research and the different health professions always have this horizon,” the Pope asked.
Finally, he spoke of the common good, as the remedy for the pursuit of vested interests.
“Even in the field of health, there is often a temptation to make the economic or political advantages of a few groups prevail at the expense of the majority of the population,” the Pope lamented.
“We must work to ensure that everyone has access to care, that the healthcare system is supported and promoted, and that it remains free. The cut of resources for health is an attack against humanity”, underlined Pope Francis.