EUROPE/ITALY - «Preach the Gospel and care for the Sick», statement from Italian Bishops’ Commission for Services of Charity and Healthcare

Tuesday, 6 June 2006

Rome (Agenzia Fides) - In the presentation of a statement issued by the Italian Bishops’ Commission for Services of Charity and Healthcare on 4 June the president of the Commission Bishop Francesco Montenegro said “for some time in continuity with a statement published in 1989 the need was felt for a statement on health pastoral in the face of social-cultural changes in the world of healthcare and pastoral care”.
The occasion for drafting the statement arose during a general assembly of the Italian Bishops’ Conference in November 2005.
Objectives mentioned in the statement included: promote discernment of challenges to the presence and work of the Church in the world of healthcare, identify lines for collaboration with all men and women of goodwill; encourage education to the value of health and the meaning of suffering in the light of the mystery of Jesus Christ; support integration of health pastoral and ordinary pastoral; promote more integration of spiritual assistance in health structures and pastoral care in parishes, developing forms of collaboration between hospital chaplaincies and territorial church communities; give indications for involving all members of the people of God in healthcare pastoral, boosting organisms of communion and co-responsibility; promote specific formation itineraries.
The proposed reflections and indications developed in three parts: vision of the present day world of healthcare lights and shadows; message of hope which the Church carries to the world of healthcare in response to the challenges; operative lines. (AP) (6/6/2006 Agenzia Fides; Righe:28; Parole:329)


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