Serving Life

38. Following a glorious tradition, a great number of consecrated persons, especially women, exercise their apostolate in health care ministries continuing Christ's mission of mercy. In the footsteps of the Divine Samaritan, they draw close to those who suffer, seeking to ease their pain. Their professional competence, attentively seeking to make the practice of medicine more human, gives space to the Gospel which enlightens even the most difficult experiences of human life and death with goodness and confidence. For this reason the poorest and most abandoned patients will be those who are the preferred recipients of their care.¹²⁵

For Christian witness to be effective, it is important, especially in delicate and controversial matters, to know how to explain the reasons for the Church's position, stressing that it is not a case of imposing on non-believers a vision based on faith, but rather of interpreting and defending the values rooted in the very nature of the human person.¹²⁶ Charity, then, especially for religious who work in this ministry, is at the service of intelligence, to ensure that the fundamental principles, upon which a civilization worthy of the human person is built, are everywhere respected.