Yesterday, the Pontifical Academy for Life[1] presented a document entitled “A new palliative care culture: a white paper presented as a working document”. These are the initial findings of a project entitled Pal-Life (Palliative Life), created in 2017. This “White Paper” is a collection of “various recommendations for the global advocacy of palliative care”.
It has been written by thirteen experts who have endeavoured to maintain a global strategic vision by addressing all of the stakeholders involved in developing palliative care. They call in particular on:
- universities to provide mandatory courses,
- professional associations to “promote palliative care at national level”,
- the media to get involved in “raising awareness of palliative care”,
- hospitals and pharmacies to make basic medicinal products more accessible.
On 5 March 2015, Pope Francis encouraged professionals and students to specialise in this type of assistance which, even though it may not save lives, does have its own value. “I call upon all of those who, at various levels, are involved in palliative care, to carry out this commitment in the full spirit of the service remembering that all medical knowledge is truly science, in its most noble sense, only if it finds its place as a help in view of the good of man”, the Pope insisted.
See also:
Palliative care, “a shining example of person-centred care”
Pope Francis pleads for palliative care
[1] The Pontifical Academy for Life (in ItalianPontificia Accademia per la Vita) is an independent institution based at the Vatican. It was founded by Pope Jean-Paul II on 11 February 1994. Its aim is to work closely with the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers. Its mission is “to study, inform and educate” on the subject of the “main biomedical and legal problems relating to the promotion and defence of life, especially in their relationship with Christian morality and the teachings of the Church”.
Vatican News, Barbara Castelli (27/09/2018)