Vatican City, Nov 16, 2012 / 13:26 pm
Catholic health care providers and clergy are meeting in Rome this week to develop responses to the different ethical issues they are facing when they work with secular governments.
"The importance of this conference is in showing how much the Church is involved in health care and it highlights the pitfalls and obstacles we have to overcome," South African Cardinal Wilfred Napier of Durban, told CNA on Nov. 16. "But it also allows us to see what we can do in all the different situations of the world, including in South Africa."
Meeting in the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall, some 800 health care professionals and clergy are attending the Nov. 15–17 conference to examine Catholic identity in health care. The conference will focus on key issues like respecting life at all stages, giving compassionate care that treats a patient as a child of God, and palliative care to relieve and prevent the suffering of patients.
The conference is also addressing bioethical challenges and what do when government health care funding may have anti-Catholic strings attached.