INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON "HEALTH AND SOCIETY"

VATICAN CITY, NOV 15, 2000 (VIS) - This morning in the Holy See Press Office Archbishop Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers, presented his dicastery's 15th annual conference, a three-day event which starts tomorrow on the theme "Health and Society."

The archbishop remarked that the theme chosen this year "intends to study more deeply the problems of health in general of today's society, especially regarding the aspect of technological challenges and the humanization of medicine."

He went on to say that "it is true that today we find ourselves facing new frontiers of medical technology as well as new care centers, hospitals and even one's own home. There are also new health care workers, not only in regard to new disciplines of medical science but also in the very way these young professionals perform, ways which are quite different from doctors in the past. There are also new patients and new illnesses, as we can see in today's geriatrics. And unfortunately there are new emerging illnesses which affect a great part of mankind today; for example, Alzheimers, AIDS, illnesses coming from drug use, and so on."

Referring to the Catholic Church's more than 113,000 health care centers worldwide, Archbishop Lozano asked: "As Church, what is our answer to today's world, to today's society?" And he recalled that the forthcoming congress "is not simply a medical congress, but rather one of the pastoral ministry of medicine."

In closing remarks he noted that, while "answers will be found in the Catholic Church, we .... want to be open to dialogue with other religions: Thus we await a witnessing from Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Jews. Wherever it comes from, the light will always be welcome."

Also presented at the conference was the calendar of events and speakers, including experts in many fields of health care from around the world as well as representatives of other religions.

Archbishop Lozano will open the inaugural session, followed by Cardinal Fiorenzo Angelini, president emeritus of the pontifical council. Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, will then address the assembly on "Theological Perspectives: Medicine Today in the Light of the Gospel."

There will be moderators for each of the morning and afternoon sessions of this international meeting.

Among the topics to be discussed November 16-18 in the Vatican are: The Frontiers of Technology; New Health Care Workers; New Patients; Emerging Illnesses; Current Problems of Moral Theology; Hospitals in the Year 2000: Old Charity and Modern Technology; Forming Health Care Professionals; Forming Volunteers and Forming Chaplains.

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