Healthcare workers work so hard!

From the balcony of his hospital room, Francis led Angelus, discussed healthcare.

Pope Francis reiterated his appreciation for healthcare workers as he led the Midday Angelus from a 10th floor window at Gemelli Hospital, where he has been a patient for a week, following an operation colon cancer scheduled for July 4. His recovery is proceeding as planned, according to daily reports from the Vatican press office, and today he looked fine, with only a few bandages on his right hand indicating his stay in the hospital.

“Thank you all: I have felt your closeness and the support of your prayers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! ”He told the faithful on the patio below, and those who were listened to by the media.

The Holy Father credits a nurse for saving his life when he was a young man with a serious lung infection. He has repeatedly expressed his admiration for nurses and healthcare workers and repeated it today, as many of Gemelli’s staff were outside to see their VIP patient.

I would like to express my gratitude and encouragement to the doctors and all healthcare workers and staff at this hospital and others. They work so hard!

The Pope noted how today’s Gospel reading refers to the Sacrament of Anointing the Sick, for it explains how the disciples “anointed many sick people with oil and healed them” (Mk 6:13).

But, he said, “this ‘oil’ is also the listening, the proximity, the care, the tenderness of those who take care of the patient: it is like a caress that makes you feel good. well, soothe your pain and cheer you up. . “

All of us, sooner or later, we all need this “anointing” of closeness and tenderness, and we can all give it to someone else, with a visit, a phone call, an outstretched hand to someone who needs help.

Let us remember that in the Last Judgment protocol – Matthew 25 – one of the things they will ask of us will be closeness to the sick.

The importance of health care

Pope Francis also said that his stay in the hospital made him feel again “how important good health care is, accessible to all, as in Italy and in other countries”.

Free health care, which ensures a good service, accessible to all. This valuable advantage should not be lost. We must keep it! And for that, everyone must get involved, because it helps everyone and asks for everyone’s contribution.

With this, the Pope summed up a position of the social doctrine of the Church, as often reiterated by various groups, for example here, the bishops of the United States:

For the Catholic Church, health is both a human right and a requirement of the common good: the dignity of the human person demands justice over access to healthcare, and health is a societal good that cannot be can be achieved only by working together.

In this regard, the Pope warned, profit cannot be the motivating factor, especially for Church health facilities. He said:

In the Church, it also sometimes happens that a health facility, due to mismanagement, is not doing well economically, and the first thought that comes to mind is to sell it. But the vocation in the Church is not to have money; it’s providing a service, and the service is always free. Remember this: save free institutions.

Why do children suffer?

Finally, Pope Francis mentioned some young pediatric patients who accompanied him to the balcony. The pediatric oncology department of Gemeilli is not far from the hospital rooms of the Holy Father.

“Pray for all the sick,” he said. “Here, there are friends, sick children…. Why do children suffer? Why children suffer is a question that touches the heart. Accompany them with prayer and pray for all those who are sick, especially for those who are in the most difficult conditions: May no one be left alone, may everyone receive the anointing of listening, closeness, tenderness and of care. Let us ask for it through the intercession of Mary, our Mother, Health of the Sick. ”

The suffering of children is an issue that the Pope has addressed on several occasions. In 2015, he discussed it at length, acknowledging that it is a difficult mystery:

You might ask, “But you, a bishop,” have “studied theology so much, and have nothing more to tell us?” No. The Trinity, the Eucharist, the grace of God, the suffering of children are a mystery.

See more of his thinking below:

FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / AFP / East News