By Paul Haring, Catholic News Service

Vatican Anthem

Msgr. Zimowski (left) and Mupendawatu (right), President and Secretary of the Council

PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR HEALTH PASTORAL CARE

With the Motu Proprio “Dolentium Hominum” of February 11, 1985, John Paul II instituted the Pontifical Commission for the Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, which with “Pastor Bonus” in 1988 became the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers.

Its tasks are: to stimulate and promote the work of formation, study and action carried out by the diverse Catholic International Organizations (C.I.O.s) in the health care field as well as other groups and associations which work in this sector, on different levels and in different ways.

The council is in charge of coordinating the activities of different dicasteries of the Roman Curia as they relate to the health care sector and its problems. It spreads, explains and defends the teachings of the Church on health issues and favors its involvement in health care practice. It also maintains contacts with the local Churches and especially with bishops’ commissions for the health world.

Other responsibilities include: following attentively and studying concrete programs and initiatives of health care policy at both international and national levels, with the goal of extracting its relevance and implications for the pastoral of the Church. In order to fulfill its mission, the council asks for the collaboration of experts and creates “ad hoc” task forces on given issues.

The pontifical council is composed of a president, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, a Secretary, Msgr. Jean-Marie Mpendawatu and padre Augusto Chendi M.I., under-secretary,besides a staff of 6 officials. The members and consultors, nominated by the pope, represent some Curia dicasteries and organizations, the episcopacy, hospitaller religious orders and the laity (representatives of the C.I.O.s and other groups and associations).

The president, secretary and under-secretary participate in interdicasterial meetings as well as conferences and lectures related to the health care field. Each November the dicastery organizes an international conference in the Vatican on topics concerning the world of science and medicine.

Meetings with bishops on “ad limina” visit to Rome allow the council to learn more directly about the various problems of the health care pastoral faced by local Churches. Likewise, cooperation with pontifical representatives is important for the work of sensitizing people to health care problems in respective legations.

With a pontifical letter of May 13, 1992, John Paul II instituted a World Day for the Sick, which is celebrated every year on February 11, Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. For this occasion, the pope names a special envoy who represents him in the day’s celebrations.

The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers edits the quarterly magazine “Dolentium Hominum” – Church and Health in the World, published in Italian, Spanish, French and English.

The Council has got a useful instrument that is the Good Samaritan Foundation.

www.holyseeforhealth.org

January 5, 2011:

Appointed as members of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care: Cardinal George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, Australia; Cardinal Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man, archbishop of Than-Pho Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, Poland; Archbishop Bernard Blasius Moras of Bangalore, India; Bishop Patricio H. Alo of Mati, Philippines; Bishop Rafael Palmero Ramos of Orihuela Alicante, Spain; Stefan Regmunt, Bishop of Zielona Gora Gorzow, Poland; Bishop Luis Artemio Flores Calzada of Valle de Chalco, Mexico; Fr. Renato Salvatore M.I., superior general of the Clerks Regular Ministers to the Sick; Br. Donatus Forkan O.H., prior general of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God; Br. Mario Bonora P.S.D.P., president of the hospital “Sacro Cuore Don Calabria” of Negrar, Verona, and national president of the Association of Social-Healthcare Institutes Aris, Italy; Sr. Maria Maurizia Giovanna Biancucci R.S.V., superior general of the Benedictine Congregation of the Reparatrix Sisters of the Holy Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ; Sr. Maria Luisa Colombo S.D.C., of the Sisters of Charity of St. Jeanne-Antide Thouret; Gian Carlo Cesana, member of the academic committee of the “Scuola di Direzione in Sanita” of the Italian region of Lombardy; Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant’Egidio Community; Jose Maria Simon Castellvi, president of the International Federation of the Association of Catholic Media F.I.A.M.C., Spain; Piero Uroda, president of the International Federation of Catholic Pharmacists F.I.P.C., Italy, and Marylee J. Meehan, president of the International Catholic Committee of Nurses and Medical-Social Assistants C.I.C.I.A.M.S., U.S.A.

Appointed as consultors of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care: Archbishop Bishop Domenico Calcagno, secretary of APSA and president of FAS, Vatican City; Archbishop Piergiuseppe Vacchelli, adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and president of the Pontifical Missionary Works; Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Archbishop Bishop Peter Liu Cheng-Chung of Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Bishop Jean Laffitte, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family; Msgr. Livio Melina, president of the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family; Msgr. Andrea Pio Cristiani, founder of the “Shalom” Movement, Italy; Msgr. Krzysztof Jozef Nykiel, official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Msgr. Jacques Suaudeau, official of the Pontifical Academy for Life; Fr. Pierre Jean Welsch, ecclesiastical assistant of the International Federation of Catholic Pharmacists F.I.P.C., Belgium; Fr. Maurizio Pietro Faggioni O.F.M., international ecclesiastical assistant of the International Federation of the Associations of Catholic Doctors F.I.A.M.C., Italy; Domenico Arduini, director of the obstetric and gynaecological clinic of Rome’s University of Tor Vergata; Filippo Maria Boscia, president of the “Societa Italiana per la Bioetica e i Comitati Etici” S.I.B.C.E.; Vincenzo Buonomo, dean of the faculty of civil Law at Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University; Christoph von Ritter, director of the “Romed Klinik Prien Am Chiemsee”, Germany; John M. Haas, president of the National Catholic Bioethics Centre of Philadelphia, U.S.A.; Jean Marie Le Mene, president of the “Fondation Jerome Lejeune” of Paris, France; Massimo Petrini, ordinary professor and vice president of “Camillianum” International Institute of Healthcare Theology, Italy; Jacek Rysz, professor at the faculty of medicine at the University of Lodz, Poland; Roberto Sega, director of general medicine at the hospital of Vimercate, Italy; Antonio G. Spagnolo, director of the institute of bioethics at Rome’s Sacred Heart Catholic University; Stanislaw Szczepan Gozdz, director of the oncological hospital of Kielce, Poland; Mario R. Angi, head of preventative ophthalmology at the University of Padua, Italy; Marco Bregni, director of the cancer treatment unit at the hospital of S. Giuseppe in Milan, Italy; Daniel A. Cabezas Gomez, psychiatrist at Rome’s “Fatebenefratelli” hospital; Augusto Mosca, medical director at the urological department of Rome’s CTO hospital; Fabio Rodia, under director of the second orthopaedic division of Rome’s CTO hospital; Kuo Inn Tsou, president of the faculty of medicine at the Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei, Taiwan, and Rosa Merola, psychologist at Rome’s Rebibbia prison.

More: Appeared on “Annuario Pontificio 2011”;
Members:
Perrier Jacques, Vesc. di Tarbes et Lourdes
von Boeselager S.E. Bali Gr. Cr. d´Obb. Barone Albrecht, Grand´Ospedaliere del SMOM

Consultors:
Mons. Cozzoli Mauro
Mons. Anatrella Tony
Rev. P. Honings Bonifacio, O.C.D.
Rev. P. Delgado Pérez Rudesindo
Rev. P. Simporé Jacques, M.I.
Sig. Evangelista Dott. Maurizio

On March 21, 2012:

P.C.´s website;

www.holyseeforhealth.org

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/hlthwork/index.htm

Charter for Health Care Workers;

http://www.fiamc.org/texts/charter-for-health-care-workers/