Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Adelaide (Fides Service) - Everything is ready in Adelaide for the main celebration to mark the 14th World Day of the Sick on 11 February feast of Our Lady of Lourdes with the theme this year of “Mental Health and Human Dignity”. It was Pope Benedict XVI who asked the diocese of Adelaide to host this 14th edition of the annual Catholic event and sent as his Envoy Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral of healthcare workers and the sick. The event will last three days and culminate with the Mass. On his arrival in Adelaide the Cardinal went immediately to visit Calvary Catholic Hospital. On 9 February he will speak at a symposium on the theme of the Day organised by the local Church and on Saturday 11the February he will preside the solemn Mass in Adelaide’s St Francis Xavier Cathedral.
In a pastoral Letter for the occasion Archbishop Philip Wilson, archbishop of Adelaide said “the theme of the Day expresses our profound conviction of the supreme value of human life and respect due to every person, independently of his or her state of health”. The Archbishop mentioned some of the many Catholic associations and institutes in Australia involved in caring for the sick such as Centacare, St Vincent de Paul, Casa Santa Caterina, and many hospitals and clinics where doctors, religious and volunteers serve the sick and priests and chaplains offer human and spiritual support. The Archbishop expressed profound gratitude to all these people who are “witnesses to God’s love for every one of his creatures”.
The Archbishop said he hoped that this principal celebration in Australia of World Day of the Sick may be an opportunity to reflect on the presence of God in each one of us and a time for all those involved in the field of healthcare and health care pastoral to reflect on their work which can be lived a continuation of the healing mission of Jesus. (Agenzia Fides 8/2/2006 righe 25 parole 256)
