Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Taipei (Fides Service) - The 13th Congress of the International Federation of Catholic Doctors is starting its 13th Congress today, 26 - 27 November to reflect on the theme, Love, Hope and Faith in Family Health Care to respond to Pope John Paul II’s call to promote the dignity of the family.
The main issues for discussion are problems concerning people of all ages, including instruction and healthcare for pregnant mothers, infants and children; challenges and measures to adopt for a new informative approach for spiritual healthcare of adolescents and adults; reflection on the Christian spirit in the care of the elderly.
“Harmony is the basic element for good health,” the President of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Cardinal Lozano Barragan told the participants in his opening address on the relation between health and the family.
The President indicated guidelines of his introduction in which he examined God as harmony and the family’s health as divine harmony and then analyses God as family harmony and authentic family health which consists in this divine harmony.
“At the centre of everything there is life which is always a precious gift” the Cardinal said, adding “...The very essence of the family health are the virtues: the theological virtues of course, but certainly the cardinal virtues as well. Only with the practice of these virtues is it possible to proceed toward the divine harmony, in which the reality of health consists... It is impossible to understand the health of the family without faith. ... It is only with a profound faith that we can build an understanding of the health of the family” he concluded. (AP) (25/11/2004 Agenzia Fides; Righe:24; Parole:286)
