VATICAN - THE POPE’S MESSAGE FOR WORLD DAY OF THE SICK 2004: “IF JESUS IS THE SOURCE OF LIFE WHO CONQUERS DEATH, MARY IS THE LOVING MOTHER WHO ATTENDS TO THE NEEDS OF HER CHILDREN OBTAINING FOR THEM HEALTH IN SPIRIT AND BODY ”

Thursday, 4 December 2003

Vatican City (Fides Service) – The Church’s Annual Celebration of World Day for the Sick on February 11, 2004, Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, will be held in Lourdes where our Lady appeared to Bernadette on 11 February 1858. In his message for the occasion, addressed the Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral care of Health Workers dated 1 December 2003, the Pope says Lourdes was chosen because it was there that the Blessed Virgin Mary said she was the Immaculate Conception and 2004 is the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of that dogma of Catholic faith.
"The Immaculate Conception of Mary was the beginning of the great work of Redemption wrought by the precious blood of Christ. (…) If Jesus is the source of life who conquers death, Mary is the loving mother who attends to the needs of her children obtaining for them health in spirit and body. This is the message that the shrine of Lourdes continues to offer to pilgrims. This is also the explanation for the bodily and spiritual healing that takes place at Massabielle".
This wonder, the Pope writes, recalls a fundamental truth: “salvation can only be obtained through docile participation in the plan of the Father who chose to redeem the world through the death and resurrection of his only Son. Sickness, death, while ever present in our earthly existence, lose their negative sense. In the light of the faith, death of the body conquered by the death of Christ becomes the only path to the fullness of immortal”.
Underlining that "life must be welcomed, respected and defended from its beginning to natural end", John Paul II says: "it is now commonplace to refer to ‘genetic engineering' alluding to the extraordinary possibilities offered by science for intervention at the very sources of life. All authentic progress in this field can only be encouraged providing it always respects the rights and dignity of the person from the moment of conception. No one in fact can claim the right to destroy or manipulate indiscriminately the life of the human being".
On the occasion of the Church’s World Day for the Sick, the Pope ends his message expressing gratitude “to the agents of pastoral care of the sick, especially the Bishops delegated for this concern in their Bishops’ Conferences, chaplains, parish priests and other clergy engaged in this field, Religious Orders and Congregations, the volunteers and all who tirelessly coherent witness to the death and resurrection of the Lord in the face of suffering, pain and death. I extend my gratitude to health workers, medical and paramedical personnel, researchers, especially those who work to produce new medicines and those who ensure the production of medicines accessible to the poor.” (S.L.) (Fides Service 4/12/2003; lines – words 479)


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