MESSAGE FROM POPE FRANCIS on the occasion of the XXVII World Day of the Sick, which is celebrated coinciding with the feast of the Virgin of Lourdes.
January 26, 2022

MESSAGE FROM POPE FRANCIS On the occasion of the XXVII World Day of the Sick, which is celebrated coinciding with the feast of the Virgin of Lourdes.

«Free you have received; give free ”(Mt 10,8)

Dear brothers and sisters: «You have received free; give free ”(Mt 10,8). These are the words spoken by Jesus when he sent the apostles to spread the Gospel, so that his Kingdom would spread through gestures of gratuitous love.

On the occasion of the XXVII World Day of the Sick, which is solemnly celebrated in Calcutta, India, on February 11, 2019, the Church, as the Mother of all her children, especially the sick, remembers that free gestures of donation, such as those of the Good Samaritan, are the most credible means of evangelization. Caring for the sick requires professionalism and tenderness, expressions of gratuitousness, immediate and simple like a caress, through which the other person feels “loved.”

Life is a gift from God - and as Saint Paul warns: "Do you have anything that you have not received?" (1 Cor 4,7). Precisely because it is a gift, existence cannot be considered a mere possession or private property, especially in the face of the conquests of medicine and biotechnology, which could lead man to give in to the temptation of manipulating the “tree of life” (cf. Gen 3:24).
In the face of the culture of throwaway and indifference, I wish to affirm that the gift is positioned as the paradigm capable of challenging individualism and contemporary social fragmentation, to promote new links and diverse forms of human cooperation between peoples and cultures. Dialogue, which is a premise for the gift, opens spaces of relationship for human growth and development, capable of breaking the rigid schemes of the exercise of power in society. The action of donating is not identified with giving away, because it is defined only as giving oneself, it cannot be reduced to a simple transfer of a property or an object. It differs from the action of giving a gift precisely because it contains the gift of self and involves the desire to establish a bond. The gift is above all reciprocal recognition, which is the indispensable character of the social bond. The love of God is reflected in the gift, which culminates in the incarnation of the Son, Jesus, and in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Every man is poor, needy and destitute. When we are born, we need to live the care of our parents, and thus in each phase and stage of life, we can never completely free ourselves from the need and the help of others, we can never tear ourselves from the limit of powerlessness before someone or something. This is also a condition that characterizes our being "creatures". The just recognition of this truth invites us to remain humble and to practice solidarity with determination, as an indispensable virtue of existence.

This awareness drives us to act responsibly and to hold others responsible, in view of a good that is inextricably personal and common. Only when man conceives himself, not as a world apart, but as someone who, by nature, is linked to all others, whom he originally feels as “brothers”, is a social praxis of solidarity oriented towards the common good possible. We must not be afraid to recognize ourselves as needy and incapable of providing ourselves with everything we need, because alone and with our own strength we cannot overcome all limits. Let us not be afraid to recognize this, because God himself, in Jesus, has bowed down (cf. Phil 2:8) and bends over us and over our poverty to help us and give us those goods that we could never have on our own.
In this circumstance of the solemn celebration in India, I want to remember with joy and admiration the figure of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a model of charity who made visible God's love for the poor and the sick. As I said on the occasion of her canonization, «Mother Teresa, throughout her entire existence, has been a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available to all through the welcome and defense of human life, both the unborn and the abandoned and discarded. […] He has bowed over the fainting people, who die abandoned on the edge of the streets, recognizing the dignity that God had given them; He has made his voice heard to the powerful of the earth, so that they recognize their guilt in the crimes [...] of poverty created by themselves. Mercy has been for her the “salt” that gave flavor to each of her works, and the “light” that illuminated the darkness of those who did not even have tears to mourn their poverty and suffering. His mission in the peripheries of cities and in the existential peripheries remains in our days as an eloquent testimony of God's closeness to the poorest of the poor" (Homily, September 4, 2016).
Saint Mother Teresa helps us understand that the only criterion for action must be gratuitous love for all, without distinction of language, culture, ethnicity or religion. His example continues to guide us to open horizons of joy and hope to humanity in need of understanding and tenderness, especially to those who suffer.
Human gratuitousness is the yeast of the action of volunteers, who are so important in the socio-health sector and who eloquently live the spirituality of the Good Samaritan. I thank and encourage all volunteer associations that deal with transportation and patient care, those that provide blood, tissue and organ donations. A special area in which your presence manifests the attention of the Church is that of the protection of the rights of the sick, especially those who suffer from diseases that require special care, without forgetting the field of social awareness and prevention. Your volunteer services in healthcare structures and at home, ranging from healthcare to spiritual support, are very important. Many sick, lonely, elderly people with mental and mobility frailties benefit from them. I urge you to continue being a sign of the presence of the Church in the secularized world. The volunteer is a selfless friend with whom you can share thoughts and emotions; Through listening, it is capable of creating the conditions so that the patient, from a passive object of care, becomes an active subject and protagonist of a relationship of reciprocity, who recovers hope, and is better disposed to accept therapies. Volunteering communicates values, behaviors and lifestyles that have the ferment of donation at their center. This is how the humanization of care is also carried out.

The dimension of gratuity should encourage, above all, Catholic health structures, because it is the logic of the Gospel that qualifies their work, both in the most advanced and the most disadvantaged areas of the world. Catholic structures are called to express the meaning of gift, gratuity and solidarity, in response to the logic of profit at all costs, of giving to receive, of exploitation that does not look at people.

I urge all of you, in various fields, to promote the culture of gratuity and gift, essential to overcome the culture of profit and discard. Catholic healthcare institutions should not fall into the trap of putting business interests first, but rather protecting the care of the person over profit. We know that health is relational, depends on interaction with others and needs trust, friendship and solidarity, it is a good that can be enjoyed "fully" only if it is shared. The joy of the free gift is the indicator of the health of the Christian.
I entrust you all to Mary, Salus infirmorum. May she help us to share the gifts received in a spirit of dialogue and reciprocal welcome, to live as brothers and sisters attentive to the needs of others, to know how to give with a generous heart, to learn the joy of selfless service. With affection I assure you all of my closeness in prayer and I cordially send you my Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, November 25, 2018.

Solemnity of N. S. Jesus Christ King of the Universe
FRANCISCO
January 26, 2022