Pope Francis assures that the coronavirus pandemic “showed the structural limits of the current welfare systems” and urged countries to “guarantee access to assistance and the fundamental right to health for all human beings”. . In its message for the 31st World Day of the Sickwhich will be celebrated on February 11, the Pontiff invites us to reflect on the fact that “it is precisely through the experience of fragility and illness that one can learn to walk together”.
«The years of the pandemic have increased our feeling of gratitude towards those who work every day for health and research. But, from such a great collective tragedy, it is not enough to honor some heroes. COVID-19 put this great network of capacities and solidarity to a severe test, and showed the structural limits of the current welfare systems, “he writes in the text, made public this Tuesday and echoed by EFE.
Therefore, “it is necessary that gratitude be accompanied by an active search, in each country, for strategies and resources, so that all human beings are guaranteed access to assistance and the fundamental right to health”, Add.
against loneliness
«It is not easy to distinguish which attacks against life and its dignity come from natural causes and which, instead, come from injustice and violence. In reality, the level of inequalities and the prevalence of the interests of a few already affect all human environments, to such an extent that it is difficult to consider any experience as “natural”. All suffering takes place in a “culture” and among its contradictions », he continues.
Francisco begins his message by stressing that although illness is part of the human experience, “if it is lived in abandonment” and “is not accompanied by care and compassion, it can become inhumane.” Yet this loneliness is “an atrocity that can be overcome before any other injustice,” because “all it takes to remove it is a moment’s attention, the inward movement of compassion.”
The World Day of the Sick “It aims to sensitize the people of God, health institutions and civil society about a new way of moving forward together,” he writes. And, once again, he uses the parable of the Good Samaritan as an example, which “suggests how the exercise of fraternity, initiated by a face-to-face meeting, can be extended to organized care.”