He approached him, bandaged his wounds,
pouring oil and wine over them;
and, placing him on his mount,
he took him to the inn and took care of him.
Lk 10:34
The theme addressed by this Roma Pain Days Congress is certainly an area proper to scientific research, and even more to the treatment of pain by doctors. But the progress to which science and the art of medicine can lead must never ignore that spiritual component which, together with the physical body, makes us human beings with an immortal soul: this vision, which belongs to Western civilization and was addressed by Aristotle, concerns not only the patient, but also the doctor.
On the one hand, in fact, the care administered to the sick – and the treatments for pain relief, which you deal with – must take into account that their effectiveness on the body is linked to the care to be administered to the spirit. You all know well, from direct experience, how much the patient’s state of mind is decisive in dealing with so many diseases …More