Health care should involve concern for others, not quest for physical perfection, Pope says

November 19, 2015

Medical care should be characterized by hospitality, compassion, understanding, and forgiveness, Pope Francis told participants in a conference organized by the Pontifical Council for Health Care.

In his November 19 address to the group, which was discussing health care in terms of service, the Pope remarked that the event was taking place on the 20th anniversary of the release of Evangelium Vitae, the landmark encyclical by St. John Paul II. He said that the four attitudes he had mentioned were “the positive requirements of the commandment regarding the inviolability of life.”

Care that shows those attitudes, the Pontiff continued, is a service that “overcomes every barrier of nationality, social extraction, and religion.” It is the sort of care shown by the Good Samaritan in the Gospel story.

The Pope contrasted this type of care—marked by authentic concern for others and respect for life—with what he called a “medicine of desires.” The latter, he said, is “an increasingly widespread custom in rich countries, characterized by the search for physical perfection at all costs, in the illusion of eternal youth.” This unbalanced attitude gives rise to rejection of those who are not perfect, he observed.

Pope Francis concluded his address by saying that care for others should also lead to concern for the environment, since many people suffer from environmental degradation.

 

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Further information:

• Francis receives the participants in the International Conference “The culture of salus and welcome in the service of man and the planet” (VIS)
• Pope Francis warns against "medicine of desires" (Vatican Radio)