November 19, 2012. (Romereports.com) More than 400 doctors and nurses gathered at the Vatican from November 15-17 for the conference titled "The Hospital, Setting for Evangelization: a Human and Spiritual Mission."
JAIME BUITRAGO
Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers
"We have achieved many goals. First off, we were able to reflect on our duties, on our mission as pastoral agents in the difficult world of pain and sickness. We bring people a bit of hope and calm during times as challenging as the prelude to death."
Benedict XVI closed off the conference, welcoming the participants at the Paul VI Hall.
BENEDICT XVI
"Anyone who chooses to work within the world of suffering, treating their work as a human and spiritual mission, requires higher competence, that goes beyond beyond academic titles. It is the Christian science of suffering."
The Pope asked them not to forget the value of dignity whenever they are with their patients. And so, he asked them to provide auxiliary care.
BENEDICT XVI
"Only by clearly focusing medical and healthcare activities on the well-being of man at his most fragile and defenseless, of man who searches for meaning in the unfathomable mystery of pain, can we conceive of hospitals as a place in which care is a mission and not merely an occupation."
Benedict XVI emphasized that now, more than ever, good Samaritans are needed because, according to him, "the measure of humanity is determined by its relationship to suffering."
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