Vatican City, 5 March 2015 (VIS) -
“Palliative care expresses the typically human attitude of caring
for each other, especially for those who suffer. It is the
demonstration that the human person always remains precious, even
when elderly or afflicted by illness. Indeed, the person is in any
circumstance valuable to himself and to others, and loved by God.
Therefore, when life becomes very fragile and the end of earthly life
comes close, we feel the responsibility to look after and accompany
the person in the best way possible”, said the Pope this morning,
as he received in audience the members of the Pontifical Academy for
Life, on the occasion of their general assembly on the theme
“Assisting the elderly and palliative care”.
“The biblical commandment to honour
our parents reminds us in a broader sense of our duty to honour all
elderly people. God links a dual promise to this commandment: 'so
that your life will be long on the fertile land that the Lord your
God is giving you'. Obedience to this commandment ensures not only
the gift of the land, but above all the possibility of making use of
it. … The precept reveals to us the fundamental pedagogic
relationship between parents and children, between the elderly and
the young, with reference to the stewardship and transmission of
religious teaching and wisdom to future generations. Honour this
teaching, and those who transmit it are a source of life and
blessing. On the contrary, the Bible severely admonishes those who
neglect or mistreat their parents”.
“The Word of God is always living and
we can see clearly how the commandment proves to be relevant to
contemporary society, in which the logic of utility often takes
precedence over that of solidarity and gratuitousness, even within
families”, he continued. “'To honour' may be translated as the
duty to have extreme respect and take care of those who, on account
of their physical or social condition, could be left – or made –
to die. Medicine has a special role within society as testimony to
the honour due to an elderly person and to every human being.
Evidence and efficiency cannot be the only criteria governing the
work of doctors, and nor can the rules of healthcare systems and
economic profit. A State cannot expect to profit from medicine”.
The Bishop of Rome remarked that the
Assembly of the Academy for Life has studied new sectors for the
application of palliative care which until now have been of valuable
assistance to cancer patients. However, it may now be applied to a
wide range of illnesses, often linked to old age and characterised by
chronic and progressive degeneration. “The elderly need, first and
foremost, the care of their families – whose affection cannot be
substituted even by the most efficient structures or by the most
competent and charitable healthcare workers”, he emphasised.
Palliative care is “an important help for the elderly who, for
reasons of seniority, receive less attention in terms of curative
medicine and are often neglected. Abandonment is the most serious
'malady' to afflict the elderly, and also the greatest injustice they
can suffer; those who have helped us to grow should not be abandoned
when they need our help, our love, our tenderness”.
Francis concluded his address by
encouraging healthcare professionals and medical students to
specialise in this type of care, “which does not have less value on
account of the fact that it is not 'lifesaving'. Palliative care
involves something equally important: it accentuates the value of the
person. Therefore, I urge all those who, in various ways, work in
this sector to carry out their task in the spirit of service and
recalling that all medical knowledge is truly science, in its most
noble sense, only if it may assist the good of mankind, which can
never be achieved by opposing life and dignity”.
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