Pubblichiamo il saluto del Santo Padre Papa Francesco in lingua inglese.
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Greeting of the Holy Father to Participants in The High Level Dialogue among Leaders of Pharmaceutical and Diagnostic Equipment Industries, with special attention to the need for early diagnosis and treatment of pandemics and other serious illnesses. Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 14 April 2016
Your Eminence, Peter Cardinal Turkson,
Your Excellencies, Most Reverend Bishops,
and Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps Accredited to the Holy See,
Distinguished Representatives of Specialized Agencies of the United Nations and of the Industries that Produce Medicines and Diagnostic Equipment,
I welcome you to this Pontifical Academy of Sciences and hope that, in this setting, you have been able to engage in important dialogue and have been able to open new possibilities of providing greater access to life-saving diagnosis and treatment of such illnesses as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, and other serious and neglected illnesses.
“Scientific research has increased the possibilities for prevention and care; it has discovered therapies to treat a wide variety of diseases. You have also worked for this most worthy commitment: to respond to the needs and hopes of the sick throughout the world.”[1]
The Catholic Church is deeply engaged in the provision of health care which seeks to meet the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of those who are sick. The Church appreciates very much your scientific and technical efforts. On other hand, we are painfully aware of “the difficulty of millions of persons to gain access to conditions of minimal subsistence and indispensable medicines in order to be cured.”[2]
I sincerely hope that your dialogue will not come to an end after this brief session; let it continue until we find the will, the technical expertise, the resources and the methods that provide access to diagnosis and treatment available to all, and not simply to a privileged few, for “there is no human life that is more sacred than another, as there is no human life that is qualitatively more significant than another.”[3]
I pray for God’s abundant blessings on you and your families, on your service to the entire human family, and hope that you will have a good day and a good lunch!
Franciscus
[1] Address to Participants in the Conference of the Italian Society of Surgical Oncology on "Digestive Surgery: New Trends and Spending Review", Clementine Hall, 12 April 2014, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2014/april/documents/papafrancesco_20140412_congresso-chirurgia-oncologica.html
[2] Benedict XVI, Message to Participants in the 25th International Conference Organized bythe Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, 15 November 2010 https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedictxvi/en/letters/2010/documents/hf_benxvi_let_20101115_op-sanitari.html
[3] Address to the Participants in the Meeting Organized by the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, Clementine Hall, 20 September 2013 http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2013/september/documents/papafrancesco_20130920_associazioni-medici-cattolici.html