"Love of justice, the protection of
life from conception to natural death, respect for the dignity of every
human being should be sustained and witnessed, even against the tide:
these core ethical values are the common heritage of universal morality
and the basis of democratic society".
In accordance with this principle,
which Benedict XVI affirms that "justice in healthcare must be among
the priority of governments and international institutions.
Unfortunately, alongside positive and encouraging results, there are
opinions and ways of thinking that wound: I am referring to issues such
as those related to so-called 'reproductive health', with the use of
artificial reproductive techniques involving the destruction of embryos,
or legalized euthanasia".
The XXV International Conference organized by the Pontifical Council
for healthcare workers, held in the Vatican today and tomorrow, gave the
Pope the occasion to reaffirm the fundamental values that the social
doctrine of the Church must also be applied to the world of healthcare.
In a message addressed to the President of the council, Mgr. Zygmunt
Zimowski, Benedict XVI writes that the theme of the meeting, Caritas in Veritate - For a just and humane health care,
"is of particular interest to the Christian community, in which health
care is central to the human being, for his transcendent dignity and
their inalienable rights. "
"In our era – he also points out – on the one hand there is a focus
on healthcare that risks turning into a consumption of drugs, medical
and surgical treatment, becoming almost a cult of the body, and on the
other hand, the difficulty of millions of people with minimal access to
basic resources and drugs essential for treatment. In the field of
healthcare, an integral part of one's existence and the common good, it
is important to establish a just distribution, to assure appropriate
care to everyone, on the basis of objective needs,. As a result, the
world of healthcare may not evade the moral rules that must govern it to
avoid it becoming inhuman".
As stated in the Encyclical "Caritas in Veritate, "the Church's
social doctrine has always stressed the importance of distributive
justice and social justice in the various fields of human relations
(35). Justice is promoted and when one welcomes the life of his brother
and assumes responsibility for him, responding to his expectations,
because in him we see the very face of the Son of God who became man for
us. The divine image imprinted in our brother founds the lofty dignity
of each person and awakens in each of us the need for respect, care and
service. The bond between justice and charity, from the Christian
perspective, is very close: "Charity goes beyond justice, because
to love is to give, to offer what is “mine” to the other; but it never
lacks justice, which prompts us to give the other what is “his”, what is
due to him by reason of his being or his acting. [...]If we love others
with charity, then first of all we are just towards them. Not only is
justice not extraneous to charity, not only is it not an alternative or
parallel path to charity: justice is inseparable from charity, and
intrinsic to it. Justice is the primary way of charity (ibid., 6)”.
SIC: AN/INT'L