The president of the Croatian CMA met with Archbishop of Zagreb and President of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference

Prof. Rok Čivljak, president of the Croatian Catholic Medical Association (CMA), met with Msgr. Dražen Kutleša, Archbishop of Zagreb and President of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference on September 11, 2024 in the premises of the Office of the Archbishop of Zagreb.This was the first official visit of the president of the Croatian CMA to the newly appointed archbishop of Zagreb, during which Prof. Čivljak once again personally congratulated on the appointment. Although Msgr. Kutleša is familiar with and follows the work of the Croatian CMA, Prof. Čivljak gave him a brief overview of the Society’s work so far and the main highlights of future activities in which cooperation with the Zagreb Archdiocese and the Croatian Bishops’ Conference is welcome.

At the level of the Archdiocese of Zagreb, the activities of the Zagreb branch of the Croatian CMA and other branches operating in the area of the Zagreb Metropolitan region were discussed. Prof. Čivljak particularly highlighted this year’s very successful national and international activities, such as the conference “Professional and ethical challenges in medicine during war conflicts” held in Đakovo and Vukovar in cooperation with the European Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FEAMC), as well as the upcoming conference “Challenges of the medical profession in today’s world” which will be held in Dubrovnik in October in cooperation with the Pontifical Academy for Life, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb, the Croatian Medical Chamber and the World Medical Association.

An important component of Croatian CMA’s cooperation with the Zagreb Archdiocese and the Croatian Bishops’ Conference is the improvement of Pastoral care in health care, for which it is necessary to develop new models of care for the sick, in which, in addition to care for a person’s physical and psychological well-being, care for the spiritual needs of both patients and healthcare workers must be included.

The last point of the meeting was education and training of young doctors and other health professionals in the field of medical ethics and bioethics. The need for better preparation of future healthcare workers for all the professional and ethical challenges they will face was expressed, which can be achieved through the cooperation of relevant Church and civil institutions in providing interdisciplinary and integrated care while promoting human dignity and protecting life from conception to natural death.

The president of the Croatian CMA and archbishop Kutleša concluded the meeting convinced of the continuation of good and fruitful cooperation in the future.

Secretariat of the Croatian CMA