Pope Francis urged medical professionals Sunday to treat every person with care and dignity, emphasizing that “there are no lives that are unworthy,” no matter how fragile.
Speaking on the feast of St. Luke, the patron saint of physicians, the pope denounced the “throwaway culture” that allows human life to be destroyed by abortion and euthanasia, and encouraged the Catholic healthcare workers to strive to promote human dignity, according to the Catholic News Agency.
“There are no lives that are unworthy or to be discarded because they do not respond to the criterion of utility or to the demands of profit,” Pope Francis said at the Vatican. “We are experiencing a true throwaway culture; this is a bit like the air we breathe and we must react against this throwaway culture.”
He encouraged Christians to show love for each individual person, especially people who are frail or vulnerable. The pope also urged all healthcare facilities to promise their patients that, “Here you can experience the healing effects of human dignity.”
Here’s more from the report:
Pope Francis praised a vision of medicine in which “the centrality of the person” forms the basis of patient care, teaching, and research.
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This vision, he said, “does not put ideas, techniques, and projects in first place, but the actual person, the patient, to be cared for by understanding his or her story and establishing friendly relationships that heal the heart.”
Last week, Pope Francis also spoke out against abortion, condemning the killing of unborn babies as “homicide.”
“I have been very clear — [abortion] is homicide and it is not licit to become complicit,” he told a group of Italian pharmacists and other medical professionals. He urged them to remain vigilant of “medicinal products that may … turn into poison,” and keep their work centered around the goal of protecting “the life of the patient in all of its aspects.”
Protecting the lives and rights of all human beings “is the ultimate responsibility” of every person, Pope Francis told the medical professionals. He urged them to remain strong and denounce the “injustices committed that harm innocent and defenseless life,” including abortion.
Pope Francis repeatedly has condemned the killing of unborn babies in abortions and urged society to support mothers and babies in need. He frequently describes aborted babies as victims of a “throwaway culture.”
Many hope he will rebuke U.S. President Joe Biden for his radical pro-abortion agenda when they meet later this month. Though Biden professes to be a devout Catholic, his administration is advocating for extreme, widely unpopular pro-abortion measures, including forcing taxpayers to fund abortions and legalizing late-term abortions nation-wide.
The pope’s strong condemnation of abortion has angered abortion activists across the world. In 2018, he caused international outrage after comparing abortion to “hiring a hitman” to kill unborn babies. Since then, he has used the comparison multiple times to urge society to protect babies in the womb.
In September, he criticized the “throwaway” culture that makes abortion seem “normal.”
“There is the waste of children that we don’t want to welcome,” he said. “It is really a murder.” He added: “Is it right to eliminate, to take a human life to solve a problem? Is it right to hire a hitman to solve a problem? That’s what abortion is.”
