(VIS) “The Church at the Service of Sick Elderly People: Care for People with Neurodegenerative
Pathologies” is the theme of the 28th International Conference of the Pontifical Council
for Health Care Workers (Health Care Pastoral) scheduled to take place in the Vatican's
New Synod Hall from 21 to 23 November. In a press conference held in the Holy See
Press Office this morning, the initiative was presented by Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski,
president of the dicastery, accompanied by by Msgr. Jean-Marie Mupendawatu and Fr.
Augusto Chendi, M.I., respectively secretary and under-secretary of the same dicastery,
along with Dr. Gabriella Salvini Porro, president of the Alzheimer Federation, Italy,
and Dr. Gabriele Carbone, head of the Dementia Centre – Alzheimer Unit, Italian Hospital
Group, Guidonia, Italy. “The four cardinal points” of the conference are “in-depth
study, dialogue and exchange of experiences, reflection and prayer, with the aim of
improving health care as far as possible, in the form of pastoral service to the sick
and suffering”, explained Archbishop Zimowski. The work of the conference “will be
inaugurated with a Holy Mass at the Chair of St. Peter, and will culminate on Saturday
23 November in an encounter of reflection and prayer prior to the audience with Pope
Francis. ... There will be almost 700 participants, including researchers, doctors,
ecclesial and health-care workers, professionals and volunteers, all engaged in the
care of elderly people, and they come from over 57 countries, in all five continents”. “This
year's theme was chosen, bearing in mind its current and future importance, the needs
to which it gives rise in terms of pastoral care, and the importance, as Pope Francis
has reaffirmed on numerous occasions, of promoting a more inclusive society, in which
even the weakest sectors of the population may be fully integrated, respected and
valued”. The archbishop went on to explain that nowadays the various forms of senile
dementia – of which Alzheimer's is the most widespread, diagnosed in over fifty percent
of recorded cases – is on the increase, affecting 35 million people worldwide at a
rate of 7,700,000 new cases each year. “According to these estimates”, he continued,
“by 2030 the number of cases could exceed 65 million. The impact of such pathologies
is enormous: on the person directly affected, but also on the family, the community
and, more extensively, at a social and national level. Therefore in many states, institutional
efforts are decisive, but as the work of this Conference will demonstrate, an indispensable
contribution is to be made by those close to the patient, as well as parishes, communities,
ad hoc religious and lay structures, non-governmental associations and entities: all
of which not infrequently 'make all the difference' in the care of elderly sick people”. “However,
there is still much to be done. As the last International Day of Older Persons highlighted,
those who are no longer young risk neglect, even on the part of the ecclesial community.
… There are many opportunities for helping the elderly to spend their free time intelligently,
and many proposals for helping them to be useful. But evangelisation is another thing
entirely. Evangelising old age means discovering its innate and original possibilities,
its true meanings, its intrinsic values … It is, first and foremost, a question of
meanings, not of things or activities. Through solidarity between the young and the
elderly, it can be seen how the Church is effectively the family of all generations.
… When life becomes frail, in old age, it never loses its value and its dignity: everyone
is wanted and loved by God, everyone is important and necessary”. The Conference
will consider the following themes: “The epidemiology and health-care policy of neurodegenerative
illnesses: the silent epidemic of the third millennium”; “Research and treatment:
current and future utility”; “The elderly person with neurodegenerative illnesses”;
“Neurodegenerative illnesses and places of care: between the hospital and the local
area”; “Preventive actions and potential advantages of technological progress”; “The
theological and pastoral perspective” and “The action of the Church”.