SUMMARY:
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SUFFERING AND HEALTHCARE: TESTIMONY TO EVANGELISATION AND HOPE
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PROTECTING PEOPLE ON THE ROAD/STREET IN AFRICA
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SUFFERING
AND HEALTHCARE: TESTIMONY TO EVANGELISATION AND HOPE
Vatican
City, 13 November 2012 (VIS) - "The Hospital, Setting for
Evangelisation: a Human and Spiritual Mission" is the theme of
the twenty-seventh international conference of the Pontifical Council
for Health Pastoral Care which will be held from 15 to 17 November in
the Vatican's New Synod Hall. At the end of the conference,
participants are due to be received in audience by Benedict XVI.
Archbishop
Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the dicastery, and Fr. Augusto Chendi
M.I., under secretary, presented the aims of the conference at the
Holy See Press Office this morning.
"Go,
teach and heal the sick, is Jesus' mandate", said Archbishop
Zimowski, "upon which are based two of the most fundamental
activities of His Church: the proclamation of the Word and the care
of the sick. … In the light of the current Year of Faith and the
recent thirteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops,
hospitals, as important places for evangelisation, ... today
constitute a crossroads of cultures and religions, areas where the
apostolate of mercy, as defined by Blessed Pope John Paul II, finds
exalted expression".
He
observed, "In industrialised countries, aside from the grave
economic and financial crises which have struck a number of nations
and led to a drastic review of health services, serious challenges
exist, beginning with the preservation of the identity of Catholic
hospitals and other health centres, and the maintenance of their
specific role of 'subsidiarity'. This must be achieved without in any
way diminishing the importance of fundamental issues such as full
respect for life from conception to natural end; the humanisation of
healthcare (which means showing full respect for patients, their
identity and life experiences); palliative care, etc.".
With
regard to those countries facing greater economic hardships, the
archbishop spoke of grave difficulties in accessing basic healthcare,
and recalled that "people often die on account of a lack of
basic medicines costing just a few dollars, as in the case of
anti-malarial treatments". He also emphasised the scarcity of
basic diagnostic instruments and specialised training for healthcare
personnel, due primarily to "the lack of opportunities" for
further study, usually for economic reasons. He also noted that "the
few resources available to hospitals in the poorest regions must be
used for the benefit of the population without discrimination on the
basis of faith or ethnic origin, in accordance with the Word, the
teachings of the Church and the spirit and history of missions".
He
concluded, "What unites large urban hospitals and the small
rural clinics … is the relationship between patients and healthcare
workers, … the fact that they belong to the Universal Catholic
Church, and necessarily adhere to her principles and teachings".
In his
address, Fr. Chendi announced that the Pontifical Council for the
Pastoral Care of Health Workers, on the occasion of the next World
Day of the Sick (11 February 2013) will publish a manual, translated
into various languages and valid for the whole of the Liturgical
Year. The new volume will offer patients and all those involved in
their physical and spiritual care a point of reference for
theological reflection, pastoral care and prayer.
"Our
intention in entrusting this manual to the Church, and to the world
of healthcare, parishes and voluntary work, is to create a communion
of grace, prayer and mutual charity", he said. "This, we
hope will help us see in the mystery of suffering ... the concrete
and daily testimony of those who bring good to the sick, and who
bring good through their own sickness. In this way such people bear a
valid witness to the faith which, from the sickbed and close to those
who suffer, is an important source of evangelisation and hope".
PROTECTING
PEOPLE ON THE ROAD/STREET IN AFRICA
Vatican
City, 13 November 2012 (VIS) - Made public today was the final
document of the First Integrated Meeting on the Pastoral Care of the
Road/Street for the Continent of Africa and Madagascar, organised by
the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and
Itinerant Peoples in collaboration with the Episcopal Commission for
the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People of Tanzania. The
event was attended by bishops, priests, religious and lay people from
thirty-one African countries: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi,
Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Congo R.D., Djibouti,
Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Conakry, Ivory Coast, Kenya,
Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda,
Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia
and Zimbabwe.
The
meeting - which was held in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, in September and
had as its theme "Jesus came up and walked by their side" -
examined all aspects of life of the road/street including: road
security, voluntary and forced prostitution, trafficking in human
beings for sexual exploitation, street children, and human rights
especially with respect to the human dignity of women, young girls
and children.
Among the
conclusions they reached, the participants recognised that Africa "is
a continent where millions of people, either willingly or
unwillingly, are daily on the move, thus transforming African roads
and streets into privileged place of evangelisation and education".
They also noted how "the road/street in Africa and Madagascar,
which facilitates daily life, human and inter-cultural
communications, also poses serious danger to life, facilitates the
exploitation of human persons and contributes to the spread of
diseases such as HIV/AIDS. These negative aspects often arise from
irregular long hours of work, lack of rest, lack of spiritual
guidance, corruption and organised criminality".
In order
to combat such phenomena the document makes a number of
recommendations including the creation of special offices in
episcopal conferences and dioceses for education and formation
programmes to promote awareness about street women/young girls and
street children, long-distant truck drivers and road security, and
about practices which undermine human dignity and endanger life. The
document also suggests "the inculturation of the Gospel as a
priority in all national and diocesan pastoral programmes in order to
liberate women, young girls and children", and the lobbying of
"African governments to exercise law and order to protect the
dignity and life of innocent women/young girls and children at risk
on the continent".
The
participants also identify a number of general actions to be taken,
including collaboration with episcopal conferences on other
continents with a view to coordinating efforts to prevent trafficking
in women/young girls/children for the purpose of sexual and labour
exploitation; the development of networking in order to assist
victims through ecclesial/interfaith collaboration at national,
regional and continental level, and the formation of mobile chaplains
and lay ministers with adequate preparation and the skills necessary
to minister to people on the road".
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