At noon today, in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the participants in the XXI General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life which is meeting in the New Synod Hall at the Vatican this week (March 5-7, 2015) under the theme: Assistance to the elderly and palliative care.
Dear brothers and sisters,
I cordially greet you on the occasion of your General Assembly, called to reflect on the theme: Assistance to the elderly and palliative care, and I thank your President for his courteous greetings. I am also happy to greet Cardinal Sgreccia who is a pioneer ... Thank you.
Palliative care efforts are expressions of a truly human approach to caring for one another, especially those who are suffering. They witness to the fact that the human person remains always precious, even when marked by age and illness. In fact, the human person, in all circumstances, is a treasure for him or herself, for others and loved by God. For this reason, when human life becomes very fragile and approaches the conclusion of its terrestrial existence, we feel a responsibility to assist and accompany individuals in the best way.
The biblical commandment that calls us to honour our parents, in a broad sense reminds us of the honour that we owe to all elderly persons. To this commandment, God attaches a double promise: that your days may be prolonged (Exodus 20:12) and - the other - that you may be happy (Deuteronomy 5:16). Faithfulness to the fourth commandment ensures not only the gift of the earth, but above all the chance to enjoy it. In fact, the wisdom that enables us to recognize the value of an elderly person, which leads us to honour him or her, is the same wisdom that makes it possible for us to appreciate the many gifts we receive every day from the providential hands of the Father and to be happy. This precept reveals the fundamental pedagogical relationship between parents and children, between the elderly and the young, in reference to the custody and transmission of religious education and wisdom to future generations. Honouring this teaching and those that pass it on are sources of life and of blessing.
On the contrary, the Bible reserves a stern warning for those who neglect or mistreat their parents (cf Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9). The same is true today when parents, who have grown old and less useful, are marginalized to the point of abandonment; and there are many examples of this!
The word of God is always living and we see well how this commandment is applicable to society today, when the logic of usefulness takes precedence over that of solidarity and thankfulness, even within family structures. Let us listen, therefore, with docile hearts, to the word of God which comes to us from the commandments, which we should always remember are not bonds meant to imprison but rather words meant to give life.
The verb to honor could also be translated today as the duty to have extreme respect and to take care of one who, because of his physical or social condition, might be left to die or caused to die. All medicine has a special role within society as testimony of the honour due to the elderly and to every human being. Evidence and efficiency cannot be the sole criteria governing the conduct of doctors or the rules of health systems and economic profit. A State cannot think of earning money with medicine. On the contrary, there is no greater duty for a society than that of protecting the human person.
Your work these days explores new areas of application for palliative care. Until now, palliative care has been a precious support for oncological patients. However, today, sicknesses which could make use of this type of care are many and varied, often connected with old age, characterized by a progressive chronic deterioration. Elderly people are in need, in the first place, they are in need of the care of the family – whose affection cannot be substituted, not even by the most efficient structures and the most competent and charitable health workers. When the elderly are not self-sufficient or have an advanced or terminal illness, it is possible for them to enjoy truly human care and to receive adequate answers to their needs thanks to the palliative care offered along with and in support of the care of relatives. The objective of palliative care is to alleviate suffering in the final phase of illness and at the same time to ensure adequate human support to the patient (cf Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, 65). Palliative care is an important means of support, especially for the elderly who, because of their age, always receive less attention from curative medicine and often remain abandoned. Abandonment is the gravest illness facing the elderly, and also the greatest injustice they can suffer: those who have helped us to grow must never be abandoned when they are in need of our help, our love and our tenderness.
Therefore, I appreciate your scientific and cultural commitment to ensure that palliative care reaches all those in need of it. I encourage professionals and students to specialize in this type of assistance, which does not have less value because of the fact that it does not save life. Palliative care does something that is equally important: it demonstrates appreciation for the person.
Esorto tutti coloro che, a diverso titolo, sono impegnati nel campo delle cure palliative, a praticare questo impegno conservando integro lo spirito di servizio e ricordando che ogni conoscenza medica è davvero scienza, nel suo significato più nobile, solo se si pone come ausilio in vista del bene dell’uomo, un bene che non si raggiunge mai "contro" la sua vita e la sua dignità.
I exhort all those who, in different ways, are committed in the field of palliative care to practice this commitment keeping alive an integral spirit of service and remembering that all medical knowledge is truly science, in its most noble meaning, a good that is never reached in contradiction to a person’s life and dignity.
It is this capacity for service toward life and toward the dignity of the sick and the elderly which measures the true progress of medicine and the whole of society. I repeat Saint John Paul II’s appeal: Respect, defend, love and serve life, every human life! Only in this way will you find justice, development, true freedom, peace and happiness! (EV, 5).
I hope you will continue to study and do research, so that the work of promotion and defence of life is ever more effective and fruitful. May the Virgin Mother help you and may my Blessing accompany you. Please, do not forget to pray for me. Thank you.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with the Academy for Life
Dear brothers and sisters,
I cordially greet you on the occasion of your General Assembly, called to reflect on the theme: Assistance to the elderly and palliative care, and I thank your President for his courteous greetings. I am also happy to greet Cardinal Sgreccia who is a pioneer ... Thank you.
Palliative care efforts are expressions of a truly human approach to caring for one another, especially those who are suffering. They witness to the fact that the human person remains always precious, even when marked by age and illness. In fact, the human person, in all circumstances, is a treasure for him or herself, for others and loved by God. For this reason, when human life becomes very fragile and approaches the conclusion of its terrestrial existence, we feel a responsibility to assist and accompany individuals in the best way.
The biblical commandment that calls us to honour our parents, in a broad sense reminds us of the honour that we owe to all elderly persons. To this commandment, God attaches a double promise: that your days may be prolonged (Exodus 20:12) and - the other - that you may be happy (Deuteronomy 5:16). Faithfulness to the fourth commandment ensures not only the gift of the earth, but above all the chance to enjoy it. In fact, the wisdom that enables us to recognize the value of an elderly person, which leads us to honour him or her, is the same wisdom that makes it possible for us to appreciate the many gifts we receive every day from the providential hands of the Father and to be happy. This precept reveals the fundamental pedagogical relationship between parents and children, between the elderly and the young, in reference to the custody and transmission of religious education and wisdom to future generations. Honouring this teaching and those that pass it on are sources of life and of blessing.
On the contrary, the Bible reserves a stern warning for those who neglect or mistreat their parents (cf Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9). The same is true today when parents, who have grown old and less useful, are marginalized to the point of abandonment; and there are many examples of this!
The word of God is always living and we see well how this commandment is applicable to society today, when the logic of usefulness takes precedence over that of solidarity and thankfulness, even within family structures. Let us listen, therefore, with docile hearts, to the word of God which comes to us from the commandments, which we should always remember are not bonds meant to imprison but rather words meant to give life.
The verb to honor could also be translated today as the duty to have extreme respect and to take care of one who, because of his physical or social condition, might be left to die or caused to die. All medicine has a special role within society as testimony of the honour due to the elderly and to every human being. Evidence and efficiency cannot be the sole criteria governing the conduct of doctors or the rules of health systems and economic profit. A State cannot think of earning money with medicine. On the contrary, there is no greater duty for a society than that of protecting the human person.
Your work these days explores new areas of application for palliative care. Until now, palliative care has been a precious support for oncological patients. However, today, sicknesses which could make use of this type of care are many and varied, often connected with old age, characterized by a progressive chronic deterioration. Elderly people are in need, in the first place, they are in need of the care of the family – whose affection cannot be substituted, not even by the most efficient structures and the most competent and charitable health workers. When the elderly are not self-sufficient or have an advanced or terminal illness, it is possible for them to enjoy truly human care and to receive adequate answers to their needs thanks to the palliative care offered along with and in support of the care of relatives. The objective of palliative care is to alleviate suffering in the final phase of illness and at the same time to ensure adequate human support to the patient (cf Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, 65). Palliative care is an important means of support, especially for the elderly who, because of their age, always receive less attention from curative medicine and often remain abandoned. Abandonment is the gravest illness facing the elderly, and also the greatest injustice they can suffer: those who have helped us to grow must never be abandoned when they are in need of our help, our love and our tenderness.
Therefore, I appreciate your scientific and cultural commitment to ensure that palliative care reaches all those in need of it. I encourage professionals and students to specialize in this type of assistance, which does not have less value because of the fact that it does not save life. Palliative care does something that is equally important: it demonstrates appreciation for the person.
Esorto tutti coloro che, a diverso titolo, sono impegnati nel campo delle cure palliative, a praticare questo impegno conservando integro lo spirito di servizio e ricordando che ogni conoscenza medica è davvero scienza, nel suo significato più nobile, solo se si pone come ausilio in vista del bene dell’uomo, un bene che non si raggiunge mai "contro" la sua vita e la sua dignità.
I exhort all those who, in different ways, are committed in the field of palliative care to practice this commitment keeping alive an integral spirit of service and remembering that all medical knowledge is truly science, in its most noble meaning, a good that is never reached in contradiction to a person’s life and dignity.
It is this capacity for service toward life and toward the dignity of the sick and the elderly which measures the true progress of medicine and the whole of society. I repeat Saint John Paul II’s appeal: Respect, defend, love and serve life, every human life! Only in this way will you find justice, development, true freedom, peace and happiness! (EV, 5).
I hope you will continue to study and do research, so that the work of promotion and defence of life is ever more effective and fruitful. May the Virgin Mother help you and may my Blessing accompany you. Please, do not forget to pray for me. Thank you.
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