On March 5-7, 2015 the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) celebrated its XXI General Assembly at the Vatican. One hundred and twenty five members from all over the world attended and participated in the PAV meeting and public conference. The theme was “Assisting the Elderly and Palliative Care.”

The General Assembly was opened in the morning of March 5 by the President of the Pontifical Academy for Life the Most Reverend Archbishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, DD. The inaugural session started with the praying of the Pater Noster (Our Father). Thereafter, bishop Carrasco spoke briefly of the current work being done by PAV and of the work to be done in the near future. The work of the Pontifical Academy is deep research on bioethical issues as viewed from reason and Christian faith.

The inaugural session was followed by the audience with Pope Francis at noon time at the Sala Clementina in the Vatican. The Holy Father spoke to the PAV assembly of the serious obligation of all to respect the elderly, our brothers and sisters. Pope Francis grounded this due respect, particularly by sons and daughters, in the biblical teachings centered on the fourth commandment “Honor your father and mother” (Ex 20:12; Dt 5:16). The Pope said that “abandonment of the elderly is the gravest sickness of the elderly.” After his address, the Holy Father greeted personally each member of the Academy and gave a Rosary to everyone.

In the afternoon of March 5, the PAV members were organized into seven working groups according to language: 3 groups for the English speaking, two for the Spanish, one for the Italian and one for the French. Some weeks earlier, all the members had received from the PAV administration in Rome a paper entitled “talking points” that would guide the discussion by the seven groups. These guidelines for discussion centered on the following points: nature of palliative care and palliative care for the elderly, palliative care and dementia, palliative care and euthanasia, end of life decision-making, artificial nutrition and hydration, and spiritual and pastoral care. The output of the group discussions will be published later on in the Book of Proceedings of the 2015 Assembly/Conference. A synthesis of the output from each group will be presented on the last day of the meeting March 7.

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Palliative care is a very significant topic today. It has even become a specialty of medicine. Palliative care is an approach to improving the authentic quality of life of patients at the end of life or with incurable diseases. It focuses on pain relief and loving accompaniment or “a warm heart” up to death, which should come at the proper time: neither earlier (through euthanasia) nor later (through the abuse of futile or too burdensome extraordinary means of treatment). Today, palliative care is usually to all patients, also when cure is possible.

For the sessions for March 6, PAV had organized a conference opened to the general public on the theme of the XXI PAV General Assembly namely “Assisting the Elderly and palliative Care.” In three sessions on clinical care, sociological and ethical-theological perspectives different sub-topics were presented by experts on the matter. Among the concrete topics discussed were the following:  the elderly at the end of life due to chronic degenerative illnesses, nursing care for the terminally ill elderly, use and abuse of analgesics in palliative care, the central role of ‘relationships’ (the elderly, healthcare workers, family and society); beyond verbal communication; ethical guidelines for good ‘accompaniment’; social solidarity; care of the elderly with dementia, and spiritual and pastoral care at the end of life. In all, fifteen speakers presented their concrete sub-topic in twenty five minutes each. There were two open fora where the participants questioned the speakers. Over three hundred people, beside the members of the Pontifical Academy for Life attended the whole day conference, which was really enriching and fruitful.

March 7, the last day of the XXI PAV General Assembly was attended by its members only. The day started with a simple Mass before the tomb of St. John Paul II at St. Peter’s Basilica. The Eucharistic celebration was presided by PAV’s President and concelebrated by five more bishops and twenty priests – all members of PAV. About a hundred more faithful and some sisters – all members of PAV – participated in the Holy Mass. In the short homily, Bishop Carrasco spoke of the gratitude of the Academy to St. John Paul II, who founded PAV in 1994, and issued the pace-setting encyclical on life Evanglium Vitae, or The Gospel of (we are celebrating this year its twentieth anniversary). Pope John Paul II was an indefatigable defender and promoter of human life from the moment of conception to natural death. We all prayed to him and ask the saintly Pope for continuing strength in our resolve to go on courageously and compassionately promoting the gift and grace of life.

In the final session, we listened to the synthesis reports of the seven working groups. Some important ideas were repeated: we are not masters of our death; “any attack on life is an attack on the family”; authentic quality of care for all, especially for the terminally  ill elderly; palliative care for all patients, even when cure is possible; dignity and rights of every person – right to life and right to freedom; the elderly are equal to other groups regarding life, health, suffering and death; suffering is not pointless and for Christians and others it can become redemptive suffering; hospice care is a good method of palliative care  for the terminally ill; problems of loneliness and fragmentation of the family; no discrimination against the elderly (all human life is valuable and vulnerable); importance of the spiritual dimension of life – of the virtue of hope.

Before closing 2015 PAV General Assembly, some members presented brief individual communications on congresses held or to be held, books published or to be published soon. The PAV President closed the XXI General Assembly with words of gratitude and hope – and a prayer. It was indeed a very successful assembly/conference. It was rich in content and richer in fraternal interaction and exchanges.

The Pontifical Academy for Life is the Holy See’s scientific think-tank for bioethics. Its aim is “the defense and promotion of the value of human life and the dignity of the person” (PAV Statutes). St. John Paul II explains: “I established the Pontifical Academy for Life, assigning it the task of studying and providing information and training about the principal problems of law and biomedicine pertaining to the promotion of life, especially in the direct relationship they have with Christian morality and the directives of the Church’s Magisterium” (Evangelium Vitae, n. 96).

 

  1. Fausto Gómez Berlana, OP

Rome, March 2015