Catholics are being urged to reflect during this year’s World Day of the Sick on February 11.

In his message to mark the 34th World Day of the Sick on February 11, Pope Leo XIV highlighted the story of the Good Samaritan: “The compassion of the Samaritan: loving by bearing another’s pain.”

“Love is not passive; it goes out to meet the other. Being a neighbour is not determined by physical or social proximity, but by the decision to love. This is why Christians become neighbours to those who suffer, following the example of Christ, the true divine Samaritan who drew near to a wounded humanity.”

The Catholic Church’s World Day of the Sick, established by St John Paul II, is held each February on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. It is an opportunity to devote special attention to the sick and to those who provide them with assistance and care, both in health care institutions and within families and communities.

Chair of Catholic Health Australia (CHA) Jenny Parker said the day serves as an important reminder of the humanity at the heart of the healthcare system.

“This day invites us to pause and reflect on those in our society who live with illness, frailty, and the loneliness that can accompany many health challenges. It is a reminder of our shared humanity, and of the compassion we all hope to extend to those in need,” she said.

“Our members and ministries are guided by the story of the Good Samaritan, which calls us to stop, to see and to act.

“I am always struck by how deeply this message resonates with the work we do. So many of us carry the concerns, struggles and hopes of the people most affected by societal and economic changes that can leave people behind.

“I’d like to thank all of the dedicated staff across our health and aged care network as well as our partners and stakeholders for the warm relationships we have built.”

Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference’s bishop-delegate for health and CHA Board Director, echoed the call for a healthcare approach that prioritises the person within the patient.

“As we approach the World Day of the Sick on February 11, let us pause and listen to the cry of suffering around us,” Bishop Columba said.

“Inspired by the Good Samaritan, Pope Leo XIV invites us to ‘love by bearing the pain of the other’, not from a distance, but by sharing their burden in compassion and service.

“In each person who suffers, we encounter the suffering Christ. This World Day of the Sick, may we embody the Samaritan’s compassion – ministering not only through prayers, but through the tangible presence of our care and solidarity.

“Let us embrace this theme as a call to genuine mercy: to see beyond disease, to enter into the loneliness of the ill, to heal with gentleness, dignity and hope. In doing so, we become instruments of Christ’s compassion in our communities.”

More information on the World Day of the Sick is available on the Vatican website.