Pope says Christ’s Passion - school for those serving sick, suffering

March 24, 2014 - The Passion of Christ is the greatest school for those who want to dedicate themselves in the service of the sick and suffering brothers and sisters. Pope Francis made the point on Monday while speaking to some 80 participants in the plenary assembly of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care. “Doing good with suffering and doing good to those suffering,” Pope Francis said quoting Pope John Paul II’s 1984 Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris, on human suffering. He said Blessed John Paul himself lived and bore witness to these words of his in an exemplary manner. Assuring that no one is alone in suffering, even in the most inhuman situation, the Pope said that in His Passion Christ takes up every human pain, anguish and suffering in His sheer desire to be with us. In the Passion of Jesus lies the greatest school for anyone who desires to dedicate himself or herself in the service the sick and suffering brothers. In the protection and promotion of life, whatever be its state or condition, we can recognize the dignity and value of every single human being, from conception to death, the Pope stressed. Reminding the participants of the March 25 feast of the Annunciation, on Tuesday, Pope Francis said it is Mary who welcomes life in the name of and for all. As we carry out our daily service, let us always regard the presence of the flesh of Christ in the poor, the suffering, children, the rejected, the physically or psychologically handicapped and the elderly, the Pope urged.