Vatican City, Nov 13, 2012 / 13:02 pm
The Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers announced Nov. 13 that its upcoming international conference will discuss how health facilities can maintain a Catholic identity in secular societies.
The conference will be "devoted to the study of all aspects of hospitals as privileged spaces, to fulfill both individually and collectively the baptismal mandate" to minister to the sick in imitation of the Good Samaritan, the council's president Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski said.
The council's 27th international conference will take place Nov. 15 to 17 and will address the theme, "The hospital, a place of evangelization, human and spiritual mission."
The gathering will bring together churchmen as well as health care professionals. Up for discussion will be several key issues: respect for life from conception to its natural end, compassionate care with full respect for the sick person's identity, and palliative care, which focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients.