2023-12-01 13:11:53
No to “a medicine that renounces care” and proposes “death as the only path”: the Pope reiterated this in the speech addressed to the members of the Italian Federation of Pediatric Doctors and the Association of Italian Hospital Otorhinolaryngologists, received in audience in the Paul VI Hall on November 18.
Dear brothers and sisters, welcome!
I am glad to meet you, as members of the Italian Federation of Pediatric Physicians and the Association of Italian Hospital Otorhinolaryngologists, and to express my appreciation for your daily work. In fact, in your different specializations, you have chosen to work at the service of people in need of care. This is beautiful!
You paediatricians, in particular, are reference points for young couples. You help them in their task of accompanying children in their growth. Children are always a gift and a blessing from the Lord: in the Psalms there is that beautiful image of the family gathered around the table with the children “like olive shoots” (Ps 128:3). Italy is unfortunately an aging country: let us hope that this trend can be reversed, creating favorable conditions for young people to have more confidence and rediscover the courage and joy of being parents. Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I will say it: today it is preferable to have a dog than a child. Your task is very limited, but that of veterinarians is growing! And this is not a good sign.
You, ENT doctors, heal some organs that are necessary in our relationships and put us in contact with others and with the community. In the Gospel we see Jesus approach deaf and mute people who lived in solitude and isolation. And we observe that when healing them he makes a gesture and pronounces particular words. I believe that these gestures and these words can be an inspiration for you, because in them the compassion and tenderness of God for us shines, especially for those who experience the fatigue of the relationship.
Along with so many health professionals, you constitute one of the pillars of the country. The memory of the pandemic still burns: without the dedication, sacrifice and commitment of healthcare workers, many more lives would have been lost. Three years later, the health situation in Italy is going through a new phase of criticality that seems to become structural. There is a constant lack of personnel, which leads to unmanageable workloads and the consequent flight of health professionals. The persistent economic crisis affects the quality of life of patients and doctors: how many early diagnoses are not made? How many people give up treatment? How many doctors and nurses, distrustful and tired, abandon or prefer to go to work abroad?
These are some of the factors that undermine the exercise of this right to health that is part of the heritage of the social doctrine of the Church and that is ratified by the Italian Constitution as the right of the individual, that is, of everyone – no one excluded -, especially of the weakest, and as an interest of the community, because health is a common good. Italian public health is founded on the principles of universality, equity, solidarity, but today we run the risk of not being applied. Please preserve this system, which is a popular system in the sense of service to the people, and do not fall for the perhaps too efficient – some say “modern” – idea: only prepaid or paid medicine and then nothing else. No. This system must be cared for, it must grow, because it is a system of service to the people.
Then there are two other opposite and equally dangerous phenomena that are spreading: on the one hand, the search for health at all costs, the utopia of the elimination of illness, eliminating the daily experience of vulnerability and limits; On the other hand, the abandonment of those who are weaker and more fragile, in some cases with the proposal of death as the only way. But a medicine that renounces care and takes refuge behind dehumanizing and dehumanizing procedures is no longer the art of healing. Rather, we must approach the sick person with the attitude of the good Samaritan (cf. Lk 25-37), who does not turn to the other side, but kneels before the wounded man and alleviates his suffering, without asking questions, without allowing himself to be closed. heart and mind of prejudices, without thinking of their own benefit. This evangelical parable will help you to always look at the faces of patients, small and large: to give them welcome and hope, to listen to their stories, to support them when the path becomes more arduous. The key word is compassion, which is not pity, no, compassion, it is pity. It is an irreplaceable diagnostic instrument! On the other hand, Jesus is the doctor par excellence, isn’t he? They are the three traits of God that always help us move forward: closeness, compassion and tenderness. I like to think that all of us health healers – we, healers of spiritual health, you, of physical and also mental and spiritual health in part – must have these three attitudes: closeness, compassion and tenderness. And this helps a lot, this builds society. I wish you this: that you are close, compassionate and tender.
The last. Those who are called to care for others must not neglect to take care of themselves. In recent years, the resistance of doctors, nurses, and health professionals has been severely tested. Interventions are necessary that give dignity to your work and promote the best conditions so that it can be carried out in the most effective way. Many times you are victims!
I also thank you for your associative commitment: it is important. I encourage young people to embark on this professional path, which is a demanding way of working while caring for others.
Dear brothers and sisters, may the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary accompany you. I bless you from the bottom of my heart, along with your families. And please don’t forget to pray for me. Thank you.
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