1. The World Day of the Sick, an event that each year is held in a different continent, on this occasion has a special meaning. It will take place, in fact, in Lourdes, in France, the place where the Virgin appeared on 11 February 1858, and which since that time has become the destination of very many pilgrims. Our Lady, in that mountainous region, wanted to manifest her maternal love in particular towards the suffering and the sick. Since then she has continued to make herself present with constant care and concern.

This sanctuary was chosen because 2004 is the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. It was, indeed, on 8 December 1854 that my predecessor of happy memory, Blessed Pius IX, with his dogmatic Bull Ineffabilis Deus, declared that ‘ the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her Conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God ’ (DS 2803). In Lourdes, speaking in the dialect of that place, Mary said: ‘Que soy era Immaculada Concepciou’.

2. With these words did not the Virgin perhaps also express the bond that connects her with health and with life? Although death entered the world because of the original sin, God, by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, preserved Mary from every stain of sin, and salvation and life came to us (cf. Rom 5:12-21).

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception introduces us into the heart of the mystery of Creation and of Redemption (cf. Eph 1:4-12; 3:9-11). God wanted to give life in abundance to His human creature (cf. Jn 10:10), on the condition, however, of a free and loving response to this initiative of His. In rejecting this gift through the disobedience that led to sin, man tragically interrupted the vital dialogue with his Creator. To the ‘yes’ of God, the source of the fullness of life, was opposed the ‘no’ of man, motivated by proud self-reliance, foreboding of death (cf. Rom 5:19).

The whole of mankind was heavily involved in this closure to God. Only Mary of Nazareth, by virtue of the merits of Christ, was conceived immune from original sin and totally open to the divine plan, so that the heavenly Father could realise in her the project that He had for men.

The Immaculate Conception foreshadowed the harmonious intertwining of the ‘yes’ of God and the ‘yes’ that Mary would pronounce with total self-giving when the angel consigned to her the heavenly message (cf. Lk 1:38). This ‘yes’ of hers, on behalf of mankind, reopened the doors of heaven to the world, thanks to the incarnation of the Word of God in her womb through the action of the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 1:35). In this way, the original project of the creation was restored and strengthened in Christ, and in this project she, the Virgin Mother, also found a place.

3. Here is to be encountered the keystone of history: with the Immaculate Conception of Mary began the great work of the Redemption, which was actuated in the precious blood of Christ. In him every person is called to fulfil himself or herself to the full perfection of holiness (cf. Col 1:28).

The Immaculate Conception was thus the dawn that promised the radiant day of Christ, who, by his death and resurrection, would re-establish full harmony between God and mankind. If Jesus is the spring of life that defeats death, Mary is the caring mother who meets the hopes of her children by obtaining for them the health of their souls and bodies. This is the message that the sanctuary of Lourdes constantly re-proposes to the devout and to pilgrims. This is also the meaning of the corporeal and spiritual healings that take place in the grotto of Massabielle.

Since the day of her apparition to Bernedette Soubirous, Mary has in that place ‘treated’ pains and illnesses, restoring to so many of her children the health of their bodies as well. However, she has worked much more surprising miracles in the spirits of believers, opening their spirits to the encounter with her son Jesus, the true answer to the deepest hopes of the human heart. The Holy Spirit, who covered her with his shadow at the moment of the Incarnation of the Word, transforms the spirit of the innumerable sick people who turn to her. Even when they do not obtain the gift of corporeal health, they can also receive a gift that is much more important: the conversion of their hearts, the source of peace and inner joy. This gift transforms their existence and makes them apostles of the cross of Christ, the vexillum of hope, even in the hardest and most difficult trials.

4. In my apostolic letter Salvifici doloris I observed that suffering belongs to the historical experience of man, who must learn to accept it and overcome it (cf. n. 2: AAS 576 [1984], 202). But how can he do this if not by virtue of the cross of Christ?

Human suffering finds its deepest meaning and its salvific value in the death and resurrection of the Redeemer. The whole weight of the tribulations and pains of mankind is epitomised in the mystery of a God who, in taking on our human nature, humbled himself to the point of making himself ‘a victim of sin ’ (2 Cor 5:21). On Golgotha he took on the faults of every human creature, and in the loneliness of abandonment, cried out to the Father ‘why have you forsaken me? (Mt 27:46).

From the paradox of the Cross comes the answer to our most disquieting questions. Christ suffers for us: he takes upon himself the suffering of everyone and redeems it. Christ suffers with us, giving us the possibility of sharing our afflictions with him. Joined to the suffering of Christ, human suffering becomes a means of salvation. This is why the believer can say with St. Paul: ‘It makes me happy to be suffering for you now, and in my own body to make up all the hardships that still have to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church’ (Col 1:24). Pain, accepted with faith, becomes the door by which to enter the mystery of the redemptive suffering of the Lord: a suffering that no longer takes away peace and happiness because it is illuminated by the splendour of the resurrection.

5. Mary, a very special participant in the sufferings of the Son, made mother of humanity, and ready to intercede so that every person may obtain salvation, suffered in silence at the foot of the Cross (John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Salvificis doloris [11 February 1984], 25: AAS 76 [1984], 235-238).

At Lourdes it is not difficult to understand this singular sharing of Our Lady in the salvific role of Christ. The miracle of the Immaculate Conception reminds believers of a fundamental truth: it is possible to achieve salvation only by meekly sharing in the project of the Father, who wanted to redeem the world through the death and resurrection of His only begotten Son. Through baptism the believer is placed in this salvific plan and is freed from original sin. Illness and death, although they continue to be present in earthly existence, nonetheless lose their negative meaning. In the light of faith, the death of the body, a death defeated by the death of Christ (Rom 6:4), becomes the necessary passageway the fullness of immortal life.

6. Our time has made great steps forward in scientific knowledge about life - that fundamental gift of God of which we are the stewards. Life should be welcomed, respected and defended from its beginning until its natural end. With life should be defended also the family, the cradle of every unborn life.

Nowadays, reference is currently made to ‘genetic engineering’, alluding therewith to the extraordinary possibilities that science offers today as regards intervention in relation to the very sources of life. Every authentic advance in this field can but be encouraged, but as long as it always respects the rights and the dignity of the person from his or her conception. Indeed, nobody can arrogate to themselves the faculty to destroy or to manipulate indiscriminately the life of a human being. A specific task of workers in the field of pastoral care in health is to sensitise those who work in this delicate sector so that they feel committed to always placing themselves at the service of life.

On the occasion of the World Day of the Sick, I wish to thank all the agents of pastoral care in health, and in particular the bishops who are responsible for this area in the various Bishops’ Conferences, chaplains, parish priests and other priests involved in this field, Religious Congregations and Orders, voluntary workers and all those who tirelessly offer coherent witness to the death and resurrection of the Lord in the face of suffering, pain, and death.

I would like to extend my gratitude to health care workers, medical and paramedical staff, researchers – especially those who devote themselves to creating new pharmacies - and to those who are responsible for the production of drugs and medicines that are also accessible to our poorer brethren.

I entrust all of them to the Most Holy Virgin, venerated in the Sanctuary of Lourdes in her Immaculate Conception. May she help every Christian to bear witness that the only authentic answer to pain, suffering and death is Christ, our Lord, who died and rose again for us!

With these sentiments I willingly send to you, venerable Brother, and to those who are taking part in the celebration of the Day of the Sick, a special Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 1 December 2003