The Jubilee Days The sick and healthcare workers

The Doctor of the Third Millennium  Hypocrites and the Good Samaritan

Massimo Aquili

“To obtain an indulgence there is nothing better than to go and visit the sick and pray with them.” Those were the words of Archbishop Javier Lozano Barragan, the President of the Pontifical Council for Healthcare, who in this way emphasizes the “novelty” contained in the Papal Bull decreeing the Great Jubilee: the pilgrimage to the places of suffering as seen as an area that can be expanded to “obtain an indulgence.” He explains that the both the pilgrimage as well as the Holy Door are only just “signs” on the road that leads to Christ. And we can find Jesus “in a very special way” in the sick. The meaning of the Jubilee for the sick and for healthcare works is also central to the search for the ultimate value of one’s own existence. This Jubilee is being promoted by the Pontifical Council presided by Monsignor Lozano, and is summarized in the logo of the day, where the resurrected Christ holds up the dead Christ, taken by the work of P. Marko Ivan Rupnik, whose original canvas is held up with pride by Monsignor Lozano in his studio. And it is precisely here where we have come to meet the archbishop to talk, above all, about the theme that is the focus of the work for the International Congress, which will precede the Jubilee celebrations: “The Catholic identity of healthcare works faced with the challenges of the third millennium,” which means also being able to define exactly the roles of the doctor, the meaning of health and the relationship between life and biotechnology. So as not to exclude anyone, and to create a global reflection, “we have invited 72 Bishops who work in the realm of healthcare in poor countries, who will come to Rome together with an ill person and a healthcare assistant (a doctor, a nurse or a volunteer),” Monsignor Lozano Barragan affirmed. The costs of the trip and throughout the sojourn in Rome will be covered by Unitalsi.

What will it mean for Catholic doctors in the third millennium to care for the sick, in a world where the medical scenario sees technology and biology ever more linked and where technology is becoming more capable of modifying life in its physical and psychological aspects?

The Catholic doctor is a Health Minister, in the sense that he/she practices a ministry. For a Catholic, being a doctor cannot mean just practicing the profession as any other, instead it means carrying out his profession in an etymological sense, that is, “a profession of faith.” The Catholic doctor, therefore, is not just Hypocrites, but also the Good Samaritan. That means taking care of the patient in a global sense, according to man’s holistic conception. Medicine cannot forget that man does not define himself by his physiology or in his anatomy, but within a dynamic reality that advances towards the summit of resurrection. In this sense, it is very important that even in practicing medicine, the doctor remembers the meaning of sickness and death, which should not be frustrating, it is not the night, but a stage toward harmony.

Amongst the sings of a relationship leaning towards science and patient, psychologists offer alternative cures, as a way to find ‘something’ that technology cannot offer. But the argument over “alternative” medicines opens an area of discussion between the North and South of the world, between cultures and different traditions, which instead of recognizing them are often ignored.

We must take into account that the world is huge and is not limited to the West. Western medicine is very important, but in America, in Asia, in Africa, there are other millenary medicines that have been introduced with great success, that were used when western medicine was not available. In the western medical culture, often this practices are consider “witchcraft.” But, adopting a principal does not necessarily mean negating another and within the different medicines there are principals which could be complementary. Western medicine should investigate, with great humility, some of the things that work – and appear interesting -- in other types of medicine. We must always remember that an exclusively medical point of view cannot undermine the complexity of the person and of health, which is certainly not the absence of sickness.

According to the WHO, health, as you have said, is not the absence of sickness and is instead defined as: “a state of complete psychic and physical health,” while respecting the complexity of the person. How do you evaluate this definition?

We have gone beyond this definition. We have taken the most fundamental and dynamic aspect. We have defined health more like a move towards physical, psychic, social and spiritual harmony. This dynamic towards harmony is not a state of health. It has to do with the capacity of man to adapt to his mission according to the different stages in which he finds himself. In this way, the health of a child is different from the health of an elderly person.

One of the messages that came out of the failure of the summit of Seattle was drawing attention to an economic policy which safeguarded rights and not just profits. In this aspect, the prospect of globalization has widened to possible scenarios in which life can be commercialized and instrumentalized by strong economic interests, which do not put dignity in the foreground. Even the Church put its fist down on this discussion in progress.

The ultimate value must always by life. Economy, commerce, money, productivity do not have a value in themselves, but only if they directly or indirectly have to do with the safeguarding of the human life. It certainly is a unifying horizon, in the sense that shared ethics are fundamental in the search for the needle in the haystack in the progress of biotechnology. I think this discussion should always lead to the life of man. Therefore all kinds of genetic research, all kinds of experimentation must have only one meaning: promoting the gift of life. That which threatens life is in itself an un-value. It is a simple, but essential rule.

The prayer for the sick

It is a Great Jubilee based on prayer. This is seen in the numerous “spiritual and character-building initiatives” laid out at the beginning of the holy Year. And recalling this “fervor” the Holy Father wanted to personally present the Angelus on January 23, on the eve of the first appointment, “the prayer for the sick,” which is held every last Tuesday of the month in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. The Pope explained that “the chose of Saint Mary Major was significant because it is the seat of encounters: the hope for good results of the Jubilee year and for the physical and spiritual health of the suffering will be offered up to the intercession of the Mother of God. I invite all the sick and those who assist them to remember this initiative, and to spiritually unite with them from their homes or their clinics.” Punctually at 17:00 on the next day, January 24, children on wheelchairs and children affected by Downs’ Syndrome, nurses, doctors and volunteers of the Red Cross, the sick from Unitalsi with their assistants, along with groups from the dioceses of Rome, took part in the Liturgy of the Word in the Basilica, listening to the Gospel, reciting the Creed and singing Marian chants, led by Cardinal Carlo Furno, High Priest of the Basilica which house the effigy of Mary “Salus popoli romani.” In his homily, the Cardinal said that “united with the suffering, we will always find Christ, who carries the cross with us.” After the singing of the Our Father, Cardinal Furno imparted the blessing of the Holiest Sacrament, which was visible throughout the entire Liturgy, and following the end of the prayer, he personally went to welcome the various groups of the sick accompanied by their assistants. “No one can say they are being excluding from the Jubilee, least of all the sick and the suffering,” said Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe, Secretary of the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee, who also participate in the ritual. “They not only live the Jubilee like all the other categories, but they are the best witnesses.” Also present were Monsignor Javier Lozano Barragan and Monsignor Louis Redrado, respectively the President and Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Healthcare, who promoted the initiative. Also present were Monsignor Sergio Pintor, the head of the National Service for health and Monsignor Armando Brambilla, Auxiliary Bishop of the diocese of Rome. Just as the Italy’s sick people animated this first appointment, so will foreign pilgrims take part in the next few months in other encounters. According to a Calendar, the sick from central Europe will have the last Tuesday in March dedicated to them. In April, the presence of the infirm from western Europe will gather and in subsequent months, Latin America and Antilles, the US and Canada, the Middle East, Asia and North Africa and Sub-Sahara Africa will meet. On December 26, the sick from Oceania will be present.