Before the 21st plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, held at the Vatican from 5 to 7 March and focusing on “Assistance for the elderly and palliative care”, Pope Francis reminded members that “palliative care is the properly human attitude of taking care of one another, especially of those who suffer”.
Pope Francis encouraged professionals and students to specialise in palliative care – a concept that is just as important as saving lives because “it recognises the value of the person”. Palliative care “bears witness that the human person is always precious, even if marked by age and sickness… in whatever circumstance, the human person is a good in and of himself and for others, and is loved by God”.
“It is this capacity for service to the life and dignity of the sick, even when they are old, that is the measure of the true progress of medicine and of all society”, concluded the pope.
La Croix 6/03/2015 – Radio Vatican 5/03/2015 – Zenit (Anne Kurian) 5/03/2015