Credits: Guadalupe Belmonte, Cathopic.
11 February marks a new anniversary of Mary’s apparition to Bernadette Soubirous. Thirty years ago, St. John Paul II instituted the World Day of the Sick to raise awareness among Catholics, health institutions and civil society of the need to assist the sick and those who care for them.
On this day we want to remember the hundreds of thousands of people suffering from illnesses as a result of the climate crisis. We invite the Circles of the Laudato Si’ Movement to place this intention in their prayers.
“Illness, which in everyday experience is perceived as a frustration of the natural life force, for believers becomes an appeal to “read” the new, difficult situation in the perspective which is proper to faith.” (Message of the Holy Father Pope John Paul II for the first Annual World Day of the Sick)
According to Stanford University, global warming is causing the spread of certain diseases, particularly those transmitted by mosquitoes and other insects, such as malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya and West Nile virus.
In addition, climatic catastrophes such as floods, droughts and heat waves bring various illnesses, including mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and even suicide.
But there are also other consequences of the climate crisis such as power cuts, which could paralyze hospitals and means of transportation; or the crop crisis, which causes great famines in areas dependent on agriculture.
A recent international study published in The Lancet states that in the next century there will be many more people exposed to extreme weather events, posing “a potentially catastrophic risk to human health” that could leave 50 years of global health progress null and void.
This year the theme chosen for the Day of the Sick is: “Be merciful as your Father is merciful”. In his message, Pope Francis invites us to look at the health workers whose hands “touch the suffering flesh of Christ, a sign of the merciful hands of the Father”.
Furthermore, the Holy Father emphasizes that “patients are always more important than their diseases,” therefore he encourages us to start “listening to the patient, his or her history, anxieties and fears.”
Let us invoke Our Lady of Lourdes and ask her intercession for all the sick, especially those who today suffer in their flesh the consequences of the climate crisis.
I am glad that you are focusing upon Climate Change as an issue for the World Day of Prayer. I hope that our bishops and parishes become more involved with this in the future (if there is a future)– especially within the US Church.