{"id":81487,"date":"2026-03-18T10:21:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/?p=81487"},"modified":"2026-03-18T10:22:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:22:28","slug":"pope-leo-xiv-health-cannot-be-a-luxury-for-few","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/pope-leo-xiv-health-cannot-be-a-luxury-for-few\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV: Health Cannot Be A Luxury For Few"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From<em> Vatican News:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"article__image\"><picture><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"cq-dd-image initial loaded aligncenter\" title=\"File photo of a poor and marginalised person in Italy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vaticannews.va\/content\/dam\/vaticannews\/multimedia\/2024\/novembre\/12\/povertA-anzianiAEM.jpg\/_jcr_content\/renditions\/cq5dam.thumbnail.cropped.750.422.jpeg\" alt=\"File photo of a poor and marginalised person in Italy\" width=\"361\" height=\"203\" data-original=\"\/content\/dam\/vaticannews\/multimedia\/2024\/novembre\/12\/povertA-anzianiAEM.jpg\/_jcr_content\/renditions\/cq5dam.thumbnail.cropped.750.422.jpeg\" data-was-processed=\"true\" \/><\/picture><\/figure>\n<div class=\"title__separator\">Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday expressed his belief that \u201cUniversal health coverage is not merely a technical goal to be achieved; it is primarily a moral imperative for societies that wish to call themselves just,\u201d but also to prevent injustice from becoming a cause of conflict.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">+<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__text\">\n<p>The Pope was addressing participants in the Conference \u201cToday who is my neighbour?\u201d organised by the Council of the Bishops\u2019 Conferences of Europe, the World Health Organization (European Region), and the Italian Episcopal Conference during a private audience in the Vatican.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the day in which the second \u201cWHO European Health Equity Status Report\u201d is released, the Pope noted that the document \u201cdraws attention to the situations faced by many poor and isolated people in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Noting that inequalities in the field of healthcare are growing in many European nations, he also called for urgent attention to people\u2019s mental health, particularly that of young people.<\/p>\n<h2>Healthcare and social peace<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cHealth cannot be a luxury for the few,\u201d the Pope said, highlighting also that it is \u201can essential condition for social peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHealthcare must be accessible to the most vulnerable, not only because their dignity requires it but also to prevent injustice from becoming a cause of conflict,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>After having reflected on passages from the Gospel, from the Book of Genesis, from Saint Augustine\u2019s writings and from Pope Francis\u2019 Encyclical\u00a0<i>Fratelli tutti<\/i>, Pope Leo said \u201cDistance, distraction and desensitisation to the sight of violence and the suffering of others lead us toward indifference. \u00a0Yet all men and women, especially Christians, are called to fix their gaze on those who suffer: on the pain of the lonely, on those who, for various reasons, are marginalised and considered \u201coutcasts.\u201d \u00a0For without them, we cannot build just societies founded on the human person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Only together, he continued, \u201ccan we build communities of solidarity capable of caring for everyone, in which wellbeing and peace can flourish for the benefit of all.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gsp_post_data\" \r\n\t            data-post_type=\"post\" \r\n\t            data-cat=\"news\" \r\n\t            data-modified=\"120\"\r\n\t            data-created=\"1773829285\"\r\n\t            data-title=\"Pope Leo XIV: Health Cannot Be A Luxury For Few\" \r\n\t            data-home=\"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From Vatican News: &nbsp; Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday expressed his belief that \u201cUniversal health coverage is not merely a.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-81487","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}