Vatican
City, 19 November 2013 (VIS) – “The Church at the Service of Sick
Elderly People: Care for People with Neurodegenerative Pathologies”
is the theme of the 28th International Conference of the Pontifical
Council for Health Care Workers (Health Care Pastoral) scheduled to
take place in the Vatican's New Synod Hall from 21 to 23 November. In
a press conference held in the Holy See Press Office this morning,
the initiative was presented by Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski,
president of the dicastery, accompanied by by Msgr. Jean-Marie
Mupendawatu and Fr. Augusto Chendi, M.I., respectively secretary and
under-secretary of the same dicastery, along with Dr. Gabriella
Salvini Porro, president of the Alzheimer Federation, Italy, and Dr.
Gabriele Carbone, head of the Dementia Centre – Alzheimer Unit,
Italian Hospital Group, Guidonia, Italy.
“The
four cardinal points” of the conference are “in-depth study,
dialogue and exchange of experiences, reflection and prayer, with the
aim of improving health care as far as possible, in the form of
pastoral service to the sick and suffering”, explained Archbishop
Zimowski. The work of the conference “will be inaugurated with a
Holy Mass at the Chair of St. Peter, and will culminate on Saturday
23 November in an encounter of reflection and prayer prior to the
audience with Pope Francis. ... There will be almost 700
participants, including researchers, doctors, ecclesial and
health-care workers, professionals and volunteers, all engaged in the
care of elderly people, and they come from over 57 countries, in all
five continents”.
“This
year's theme was chosen, bearing in mind its current and future
importance, the needs to which it gives rise in terms of pastoral
care, and the importance, as Pope Francis has reaffirmed on numerous
occasions, of promoting a more inclusive society, in which even the
weakest sectors of the population may be fully integrated, respected
and valued”. The archbishop went on to explain that nowadays the
various forms of senile dementia – of which Alzheimer's is the most
widespread, diagnosed in over fifty percent of recorded cases – is
on the increase, affecting 35 million people worldwide at a rate of
7,700,000 new cases each year. “According to these estimates”, he
continued, “by 2030 the number of cases could exceed 65 million.
The impact of such pathologies is enormous: on the person directly
affected, but also on the family, the community and, more
extensively, at a social and national level. Therefore in many
states, institutional efforts are decisive, but as the work of this
Conference will demonstrate, an indispensable contribution is to be
made by those close to the patient, as well as parishes, communities,
ad hoc religious and lay structures, non-governmental associations
and entities: all of which not infrequently 'make all the difference'
in the care of elderly sick people”.
“However,
there is still much to be done. As the last International Day of
Older Persons highlighted, those who are no longer young risk
neglect, even on the part of the ecclesial community. … There are
many opportunities for helping the elderly to spend their free time
intelligently, and many proposals for helping them to be useful. But
evangelisation is another thing entirely. Evangelising old age means
discovering its innate and original possibilities, its true meanings,
its intrinsic values … It is, first and foremost, a question of
meanings, not of things or activities. Through solidarity between the
young and the elderly, it can be seen how the Church is effectively
the family of all generations. … When life becomes frail, in old
age, it never loses its value and its dignity: everyone is wanted and
loved by God, everyone is important and necessary”.
The
Conference will consider the following themes: “The epidemiology
and health-care policy of neurodegenerative illnesses: the silent
epidemic of the third millennium”; “Research and treatment:
current and future utility”; “The elderly person with
neurodegenerative illnesses”; “Neurodegenerative illnesses and
places of care: between the hospital and the local area”;
“Preventive actions and potential advantages of technological
progress”; “The theological and pastoral perspective” and “The
action of the Church”.