Pope Francis on Sunday hailed the heroism of health care workers. Sunday was National Health Personnel Day in Italy.
The Holy Father’s plaudits for those who care for the sick came after he prayed the noonday Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
“Today it is the National Day for healthcare professionals, and we must remember the many doctors, nurses, and volunteers who stay by the side of the sick, who care for them, who make them feel better, who help them. ‘No-one is saved alone’, said the title of the program ‘A Sua Immagine’.,” the Holy Father said. “No one is saved alone. And in sickness, we need someone who saves us, who assists us.
“A doctor told me, this morning, that in the time of Covid, a person was dying, and said to him, ‘Hold my hand: I am dying, and I need your hand’. The heroic healthcare professionals showed this heroism in the time of Covid, but the heroism remains there every day. A round of applause and a big “thank you” to our doctors, nurses, and volunteers!”
Pope Francis has been a consistent supporter of healthcare workers and praised their work during the pandemic.
With a chirograph, signed on September 29, 2021, and published October 6, Pope Francis established a “Foundation for Catholic Healthcare,” an entity whose purpose is to “offer financial support to the Church’s healthcare facilities, so that they keep the Charisms of the Founders, are included in the network of similar facilities and charitable structures of the Church, geared to an exclusively charitable end according to the dictates of the Social Doctrine of the Church.”
“Always keeping the parable of the good Samaritan in mind, let us remember that we must be neither accomplices of the bandits who rob a man and abandon him wounded in the street, nor of the two religious officials who see him and walk on by.”
With those words citing the parable of the good Samaritan, Pope Francis stressed the need to care for both the physical and spiritual health of the sick. His words came in a video message to participants in the Webinar: “World Day of the Sick: Meaning, Goals and Challenges”, organized by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, on the occasion of the 30th World Day of the Sick.
