Pope Francis has reminded doctors that they need to put heart into their important work.
Addressing the Medical Associations of Spain and Latin America this morning in the Vatican, the Pope stressed that a physician’s identity relies not only on skills, but mainly on a compassionate and merciful attitude towards those who suffer in body and spirit, reported Vatican Radio.
Compassion, the Argentine Pontiff stressed, is the very soul of medicine and is not pity, but «suffering -with.» But in our individualistic and highly technological culture, the Pope lamented that compassion, at times, is not well received by those who see it as a humiliation.
«There are even some who hide behind alleged compassion to justify killing a patient,» the Pope said.
«True compassion,» Francis reminded the physicians, «does not marginalize, humiliate or exclude and doesn’t celebrate the passing away of a patient. No, this is the triumph of selfishness, of the “culture of disposability” that rejects people who do not meet certain standards of health, beauty or utility.»
“Health is one of the most precious gifts and everyone desires it.»
Compassion
Compassion, the Pope explained, is the appropriate response to the immense value of the sick person, a response made of respect, understanding and tenderness, because the sacred value of the life of the patient does not disappear, neither is it ever darkened, but it shines with more splendor precisely in the person’s suffering and helplessness.
«This is what is understood when St. Camillo de Lellis says with respect to treating patients: «‘Put more heart in those hands,'» Francis said.
«Fragility, pain and disease are a tough test for everyone, including medical staff; they are a call to patience, to suffer-with; therefore one cannot yield to the temptation to apply quick, merely functional and drastic solutions driven by false compassion or by criteria of efficiency or cost savings. At stake is the dignity of human life; at stake is the dignity of the medical vocation.»
Christus Medicus
“The biblical tradition has always highlighted the closeness between salvation and health,» Francis said recalling the title with which the Church Fathers employed in reference to Christ and His work of salvation: Christus Medicus.
«He is the Good Shepherd who cares for the wounded sheep and comforts the sick (cf. Ez 34,16); he is the Good Samaritan who does not pass before the badly injured person by the wayside but, moved by compassion, he heals and serves (cf. Lk 10.33 to 34). Christian medical tradition has always been inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan.»
This tradition, he continued is identified with the love of the Son of God, who did good and healed those in need.
«How much good the practice of medicine does in thinking of the sick person as our neighbor, as our flesh and blood, and the mystery of the flesh of Christ himself reflected in his wounded body! ‘Every time you did it to one of these, my brethren, you did it to me’ (Mt 25:40).»
Pope Francis concluded, thanking those present for their daily efforts to accompany, nurture and enhance the immense gift of the human person, and asked them to pray for him.
