Background: World Day of the Sick
February 11, 2021
February 11 is the 29th World Day of the Sick, a commemoration instituted by Pope St. John Paul II. The World Day of the Sick takes place each year on the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Pope Francis’s message for the day, issued last December 20, is entitled “‘You have but one teacher and you are all brothers’ (Mt. 23:8): A trust-based relationship to guide care for the sick.”
In his letter instituting the commemoration, St. John Paul wrote that the day should be “a special time of prayer and sharing, of offering one’s suffering for the good of the Church and of reminding everyone to see in his sick brother or sister the face of Christ who, by suffering, dying, and rising, achieved the salvation of mankind.” The messages of Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis are available on the Vatican website.
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