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Pope Benedict XVI- Angelus |
Angelus
Message
On World Day of the Sick
"Offer Integral Care ... Human Support"
H.H. Benedict XVI
February 11, 2007
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Church remembers today the first apparition of the Virgin Mary
to St. Bernadette, which occurred Feb. 11, 1858, in the grotto of
Massabielle in Lourdes, a miraculous event which has made that town,
located in the French Pyrenees, a world center of pilgrimages and of
intense Marian spirituality.
In that place, now almost 150 years ago, the Virgin's appeal for
prayer and penance resounds forcefully, an almost permanent echo of
the invitation with which Jesus began his pilgrimage in Galilee:
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent,
and believe in the Gospel" (Mark 1:15).
That shrine has become, moreover, the object of numerous sick
pilgrims, who on listening to Mary Most Holy, receive the
encouragement to accept their sufferings and to offer them for the
salvation of the world, uniting them to those of Christ crucified.
Because of this link between Lourdes and human suffering, 15 years
ago, our beloved John Paul II wished that the World Day of the Sick
be celebrated on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
This year, the heart of this celebration will be in the city of
Seoul, capital of South Korea, where I have sent as my
representative Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, president of the
Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry. To him and to all those
gathered there, I send my cordial greetings.
I would like to extend my greetings to health agents worldwide,
aware of the importance in our society of their service to the sick,
above all, I wish to express my spiritual closeness and affection to
our sick brothers and sisters, with a special remembrance for those
who are affected by particularly serious or painful illnesses: Our
attention is dedicated in particular to them on this day.
It is necessary to support the development of palliative treatments
that offer integral care and dispense to incurably sick people that
human support and spiritual accompaniment they so need.
This afternoon, in St. Peter's Basilica, numerous sick people and
pilgrims will gather around Cardinal Camillo Ruini, who will preside
at the Eucharistic celebration. At the end of the Holy Mass, I will
have the joy, as last year, of meeting with them, reliving the
spiritual climate that is felt in the Grotto of Massabielle. With
the Angelus, prayer, I would now like to commend to the protection
of the Immaculate Virgin, the sick and those suffering in body and
spirit throughout the world.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[After praying the Angelus, the Holy Father greeted pilgrims in six
languages. In English, he said:]
To all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors I extend a warm
welcome. In a special way I greet the music directors from the
United States representing the National Association of Pastoral
Musicians. In the Beatitudes which we hear in today's Gospel, Jesus
teaches us the way to true happiness. May your time in Rome make you
hunger and thirst more deeply for his justice and peace. Upon all of
you, I invoke the abundant blessings of Almighty God.
© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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