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Benedictus XVI brengt bezoek aan Maltezer hospitaal
Rome, 02/12/2007
Dat de
wetenschap voor de mens heilzaam kan zijn maar niet heilbrengend, kon de
paus vanochtend met eigen ogen zien. De Heilige Vader bracht vanochtend een
bezoek aan het hospitaal San Giovanni Battista in Rome. Dit ziekenhuis is
van de Soevereine Militaire Orde van Malta. Het instituut staat bekend om zijn
neurologisch specialisme. Meer dan 35 jaar worden daar patiënten met zwaar
hersenletsel behandeld en verzorgd. De paus celebreerde er de Heilige Mis
temidden van patiënten, hun familieleden, medisch personeel en ridders. Hij deed
dat samen met Fra' Andrew Bertie, prins en grootmeester van de Maltezer Orde, en
kardinaal Pio Laghi.
Wetenschap
kan de mens niet verlossen
Paus
Benedictus XVI stond op de eerste dag van het nieuwe kerkelijke jaar stil bij
zijn op 30 november verschenen encycliek Spe salvi, die geheel gewijd is
aan de hoop. Volgens de Heilige Vader is de mensheid zonder geloof in God
verstoken van echte hoop. De wetenschap heeft weliswaar veel gedaan voor de
mensheid maar kan haar onmogelijk verlossen, dat kan alleen God, aldus de Paus
in zijn Angelus-toespraak op de eerste zondag van de Advent.
Dramatische behoefte aan God
"De
ontwikkeling van de moderne wetenschap heeft steeds meer het geloof en de hoop
naar de private en individuele sfeer verbannen, zodat vandaag de dag op evidente
en soms dramatische wijze blijkt dat de mens en de wereld God nodig hebben, de
ware God, zonder wie zij zonder hoop blijven", zei de paus.
Verlossing
door Liefde
Benedictus: "De wetenschap draagt zonder twijfel veel bij aan het goed van de
mensheid, maar ze kan haar niet verlossen. De mens wordt verlost door de liefde,
die het persoonlijk en sociale leven goed en mooi maakt. Daardoor is de grootse
hoop, die compleet en definitief is, gegarandeerd door God, de God die liefde
is, die in Jezus ons heeft bezocht en ons het leven heeft gegeven en in Hem zal
terugkeren aan het eind der tijden."
PRESS
RELEASE
(Bron: SMHOM, Rome)
2 DECEMBER
2007: POPE BENEDICT XVI VISITS THE ORDER OF MALTA’S HOSPITAL. PASTORAL COMFORT
FOR
BRAIN-DAMAGED
PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES
On
Sunday 2 December at 8.45, His Holiness Benedict XVI will visit the highly
regarded “San Giovanni Battista” Hospital of the Sovereign Military Order of
Malta in Rome to meet with patients and staff. For over 35 years, this medical
facility has been a leader in neurological treatment and rehabilitation
of
brain-damaged patients.
The
Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Fra’ Andrew Bertie, and members of its
government, will welcome the Pope, together with Cardinal Pio Laghi, his direct
representative to the Order.
After
the solemn Mass celebrated for the sick and their families, the Holy Father will
visit the hospital wards, making a special visit to patients in the reawakening
unit, with its advanced rehabilitation therapies for those recovering from coma.
This
will be the first visit any Pope has made to the Magliana Hospital which has an
ancestral link with Saint Peter. The hospital was built around the area of the
ancient “Castello della Magliana”, for centuries a summer residence for Popes.
This site has been restored by the Order of Malta as a hospital, including a
well respected nursing school. The “San Giovanni Battista” Hospital is managed
and run by the Italian Association of the Order.
THE
ORDER
OF MALTA
The
Sovereign Military
Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta,
founded in Jerusalem 960 years ago, has a dual nature: it is a lay religious
order and a sovereign subject of international law, on a par with a State.
The Order of Malta’s mission is to
serve the poor, the sick, the refugees and the most disadvantaged. Its 12,500
members, 80,000 permanent volunteers and over 13,000 doctors, nurses, assistants
and paramedics, take care of the elderly, disabled, children, refugees,
homeless, terminally sick, lepers and drug addicts in 120 countries. The Order
of Malta has bilateral diplomatic relations with ninety-nine States, including
the Holy See. It has eighteen official missions and permanent observers with the
United Nations, European Union and numerous international organizations.
The
San Giovanni Battista Hospital
The San Giovanni Battista Hospital, situated in the Rome, specialises in
neurorehabilitation with particular emphasis on the rehabilitation of
post-stroke and post-trauma patients. Besides medical treatment for patients
suffering from serious pathologies of the nervous and musculoskeletal systems,
the hospital also provides support for their families, who are often emotionally
and physically exhausted. The hospital, with a staff of 500, has 240 beds
for ordinary admissions, a reawakening unit (cutting-edge facility
specialised
in treating patients recovering from coma), a day hospital that treats
around 350 patients for 7000 admission days a year. It also offers a series of
specialist services, including the clinical analysis laboratory, a radiology
department, ophthalmology, neuro-physiopathology, clinical neuropsychology,
internal medicine and cardiology, as well as a general out-patients clinic.
Thanks also to the considerable
support given by the Association of Volunteers working in the hospital,
particular attention is paid to patient centrality by “humanising” treatment and
ensuring human dignity.
The
Reawakening
Unit
Inaugurated in 2000, the
reawakening unit of the San Giovanni Battista hospital is one of the very few
Italian health facilities specifically dedicated to the treatment of
brain-damaged patients during their “awakening” from coma stage. The incidence
and seriousness of this pathology makes it the first cause of death and
invalidity among young people today. Once reawakened, patients are at their
most dependent in the subsequent, delicate recovery stage, with regard to both
basic physiological needs and motility. The reawakening unit has highly
specialised therapies to cope with these needs, combining medical and
psycho-social assistance. With its cutting-edge techniques and qualified staff,
the centre is fully equipped to tackle the complex clinical picture of a
seriously brain-damaged person in the sub-acute stage. |
