At the end of Mass, Benedict XVI arrived in the basilica where he blessed the sick and made some brief remarks.
"This Day invites us to make sick people more intensely aware of the spiritual closeness of the Church," said the Pope, because the Church "is the family of God in the world, within which no-one must suffer for lack of what they need. At the same time, today we have the opportunity to reflect on the experience of sickness and pain, and more generally on the meaning of life which must be lived to the full, even in suffering," he said.
Recalling then how this year's World Day is dedicated to sick children, the Holy Father asked: "If we remain speechless before the suffering of adults, what can we say when sickness strikes a young and innocent child? How can we, even in such difficult situations, see the merciful love of God, Who never abandons His children at their time of trial?"
"Such questions," the Holy Father said, "are frequent and sometimes disquieting, and the truth is that on a merely human level they do not find adequate answers, because the significance of suffering, sickness and death remains unfathomable to our minds. However, the light of faith comes to our aid."
Pope Benedict pointed the faithful to turn to the Word of God, which "reveals to us that these evils are also mysteriously 'embraced' by the design of salvation. Faith helps us to uphold the belief that human life is beautiful and worthy to be lived to the full, even when undermined by sickness."
At the same time, the Pope noted that "God created man for happiness and for life, while sickness and death came into the world as a consequence of sin."