Pope Francis listens as a young woman speaks during a private audience in the Vatican's Paul VI hall with patients, their family members and medical staff from the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesu children's hospital in Rome. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano)

Most important and costliest medicine? Love, pope tells patients

940 0

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The kind of health care most at risk of being neglected for those who are ill or hospitalized is love, Pope Francis told pediatric patients.

A hospital must always carry out certain procedures and functions, but “there is the danger, the risk of forgetting the most important medicine only a family can give — caresses,” he said, emphasizing it was critical that hospital staff create a sense of being part of one family with patients and relatives.

In the Paul VI audience hall April 10, the pope met with patients, their family members and medical personnel from the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesu children’s hospital in Rome.

The children and young people spoke to the pope and gave him photographs and small gifts. He read aloud one note given to him on behalf of all the young patients, who thanked him for meeting with them “because you give us hope and courage for tomorrow.”

The pope told them he sensed that, “more than a hospital, this is a family” because medical staff always introduced the children to him by their names, knew their life stories and only mentioned their illnesses last, like a side note.

He said he understands how young patients would be fearful and feel insecure.

“Going into a hospital is always scary. I see it when I go up to some kids, not all of them, but some — the little ones — who see me dressed in white and they start crying. They think that I am a doctor” about to give them a shot “and they cry and are afraid,” he said.

But, he said, when he strokes them softly them they feel reassured. That is why it is so important to never forget to show loving care with a caress, he said.

This important “medicine,” however, is very expensive, he said, “because to have it, to be able to give it, you have to put your heart and soul into it, put your whole heart into it, all your love.”

The pope said for a Catholic hospital to be “Catholic” it must first be “human” and treat everyone as family and as being important.

Related Post

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Philippines, is pictured in Rome May 6, 2018. In a move that may signal Pope Francis' plan for the reform of the Roman Curia is close to completion, the Vatican announced Dec. 8, 2019, the pope has named Cardinal Tagle prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope names Cardinal Tagle to lead evangelization congregation

Posted by - December 15, 2019 0
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a move that may signal Pope Francis’ plan for the reform of the Roman Curia…
Filipino nuns wearing hats with messages against human rights violations join a Feb. 25 demonstration to mark the 31st anniversary of the People Power revolution in Manila. The nonviolent revolution led to the toppling of President Ferdinand Marcos and the restoration of the country's democracy. (CNS photo/Mark R. Cristino, EPA)

Philippine archbishop recalls deceased Cardinal Sin in time of upheaval

Posted by - March 3, 2017 0
MANILA, Philippines (CNS) — Expressing concern about thousands of deaths in the nation’s so-called “war on drugs,” the president of…
Spanish Missionary of Charity Sister Paul supports a patient Oct. 16, 2009, at the House for the Dying in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. People who feel restless or lacking inner peace will discover it when they visit those who are experiencing great difficulty, suffering, illness or persecution, Pope Francis said. (CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey)

People can find peace by visiting those who suffer, pope says

Posted by - May 4, 2019 0
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — People who feel restless or lacking inner peace will discover it when they visit those who…
Riley Benner, a sophomore at the Jesuit-run College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., sports one of his handmade ties that can be ordered though the online site phoenixhaberdashery.com. He started the tie company, Phoenix Haberdashery, when he was a junior at McQuaid Jesuit High School in Rochester, N.Y., and employed refugee workers from the Rochester area. (CNS photo/courtesy Riley Benner)

Student-run business literally ties ideas together

Posted by - December 23, 2017 0
WASHINGTON (CNS) — A panel discussion last year on the challenges faced by refugees didn’t sit well with a freshman…