Provincial Brother Donatus Forkan was among members of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers who met with Pope Francis last month. The Council gathered from 24th– 26thMarch in Rome to evaluate its work over the past five years and plan for the future. Each council member was presented individually to the Pope who spoke to the entire group on the nature of suffering and the fragility of human life.
The Pope’s Speech to the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers
“It is true that in suffering no-one is ever alone”…..“as God in his merciful love for mankind and for the world also embraces the most inhuman situations, in which the image of the Creator present in every person appears to be obscured or disfigured. Thus was Jesus, in his Passion. … And here, in the Passion of Jesus, there is the greatest school for whoever wishes to dedicate him to the service of his sick and suffering brethren”.
“The experience of fraternal sharing with those who suffer opens us to the true beauty of human life, which includes its fragility. In the protection and promotion of life, in whatever state and condition it may be found, we can recognise the dignity and the value of each single human being, from conception to natural death”.
The Pope concluded by encouraging those present always to keep in mind “the flesh of Christ in the poor, in those who suffer, in children, including those who are unwanted, in people with physical or mental handicaps, and in the elderly”.
