Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service ) – The main celebration for the 12th World Day for the Sick on 11 February , Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, will take place in Lourdes. In view of the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, this year’s theme is: “The Immaculate Conception and Health Care in the Christian Roots of Europe”. For this annual occasion Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral of the Sick and of Health care Workers kindly agree to speak with Fides.
Fides: The Church has always considered as part of the mission entrusted to her by Christ, her presence among the sick. The first hospitals were opened by Religious and still today missionary dispensaries are in many parts of the world the only reference point for thousands of people. Some say these religious should be used for direct evangelisation and leave health care to public structures. What is your opinion?
Card. Lozano Barragan: I will answer this question with a couple of anecdotes. I once received a visit from the Ambassador of Libya, a Muslim country. On behalf of the head of government he asked for 500 sisters to work in hospitals. In Rome for his ad limina visit a Bishop from Egypt, a Muslim country, told me that patients in hospitals want to be looked after by nuns: indeed they prefer to be given a drink of water from a nun father than medicine from a doctor. This means that the Church can never renounce her Pastoral of Health. Governments must work in health centres in harmony and concord with the Church and the Church must nevertheless bear witness in the field of health. Christ gave us two commands: to preach and to heal. Healing is not only physical it is psychic, social and spiritual.
Fides: In his apostolic Letter Salvifici doloris Pope John Paul II affirms “suffering is part of the historic vicissitudes of man who must learn to accept and overcome it”. How can humanity be helped to face these situations with serenity and awareness?
Card. Lozano Barragan: First of all we must be realists: suffering exists. Then we must examine all the solutions taken into consideration by humanity through the centuries to our day with regard to suffering. Sceptics and Buddhists say we should not think about suffering, Hindus say suffering is caused by some fault which must be repaired but which leads to re-incarnation and, for the good ones, to a higher state of joy. Others say there are good and bad principles and we must do our best to rid ourselves of all bad transcendent or immanent within and outside the person. All these solutions are useless. Evil is not an entity, it is a privation. The only solution is to make evil a source of good: and Christ assumed all evil, all the sin of humanity, indeed he became sin in order to die and from death came the beautiful flower of the Resurrection. This is not just a theory, it is history: the Son of God became man, he died for us and is risen. The Redemption is the only way to defeat evil. People who accept this principle are filled with light, those who refuse it remain in darkness.
Fides: In his message for World Day of the Sick 2004, the Pope speaks of great progress in the science in the field of genetic engineering and he once again calls scientists to have respect for the rights and dignity of the person, from the moment of conception. Why do many people say this position of the Church is outdated and indeed an obstacle to progress for the good of humanity?
Card. Lozano Barragan: Because they fail to understand the true meaning of life. Life is the most important gift of all, anything which threatens life is not progress, it is regression. And the Church has never been in favour of regression. The Church defends progress which makes use of technology, of which the horizon is a possibility, and of ethics of which the horizon is finality. If we combine technology, science and ethics without control, then we unleash an insane machine which goes in all directions including the destruction of mankind. If instead, we combine bio-ethics and bio-genetics we indicate a path leading to the edification rather than the annihilation of mankind. Ethics alone are able to understand when “progress” will destroy man: ethics accept everything which edifies man and reject all which aims to destroy man.
Agenzia Fides: one last question: the main celebration of the World day for the Sick is in Lourdes this year. What special bond unites Mary with the world of suffering?
Card. Lozano Barragan: the special bond is her Son, Jesus. The only one who can free us from suffering is Christ the Lord. With his Cross he annihilated death and all its consequences, sickness, pain and suffering.
(AP) (5/2/2004 Fides Service; lines 64 words867)
