Vatican press conference presents Pope's message for World Day of the Sick

January 29, 2013

At a January 29 press conference, held to brief reporters on Pope Benedict’s message for the World Day of the Sick, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski said that the Pope’s message, released earlier this month, challenges the faithful to “let the figure of the Good Samaritan call to us.”

Archbishop Zimowski, the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care, noted that in his message the Pope “puts the emphasis on the end of the parable when Jesus…concludes with an urgent mandate: ‘Go and do likewise.’” To carry out that mandate, he said, is to imitate Christ, showing Christian concern for the sick. However, he said, “this capacity to love cannot come solely from our efforts, but rather is born of our being in constant relationship with Christ through a life of faith.”

 

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Further information:

• Presentation of Papal Message for World Day of the Sick (VIS)
• See Christ in those suffering illness, Pope says in message for World Day of Sick (CWN, 1/8)
• "Go and Do Likewise" (full text of papal message)