Pope Benedict XVI received the participants in an annual conference
sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers. This year, those taking part in the three-day gathering focused on the Hospital as a place of evangelization.
In his remarks to the participants, Pope Benedict spoke of the Church’s particular concern for the sick and suffering. Citing the Second Vatican Council’s Message to the poor, the sick and the suffering, the Pope said, that sick and suffering people neither abandoned, nor unnecessary.
“United to the Cross of Christ,” he said, “they contribute to the work of salvation.”
Pope Benedict also encouraged all health professionals and volunteers to recognize that their work is a human and a spiritual mission for which the Church’s expertise in the experience of suffering is indispensible. “In the mystery of suffering,” “let the glory of the Risen Christ shine through.”
In concluding, the Pope had a special message for sick and suffering people, telling them, “Your silent witness is an effective sign and instrument of evangelization for the people who care for you, and for your families, in the certainty that ‘no tear, nor of those who suffer or those close to him, goes unnoticed before God.’”