For the pastoral care of the sick

“This month, let us pray for the pastoral care of the sick”. This is Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of July, which was published on Tuesday, 2 July, by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network and the Click To Pray app. The video was filmed with help from the US Dioceses of Allentown and Los Angeles, according to a press release.

“Let us pray that the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick grant the Lord’s strength to those who receive it and to their loved ones, and that it may become for everyone an ever more visible sign of compassion and hope”. Pope Francis offered this reflection to all Christians around the world.

In the video the Pope recalls how “the Anointing of the Sick is not a sacrament only for those who are at the point of death”. It is important that we understand this; it is not necessarily to help a person “say goodbye to life”, thinking this way means giving up hope. “Let us remember that the Anointing of the Sick is one of the ‘sacraments of healing’, of ‘restoration’, that heals the spirit”, he added.

When a person is very ill, it is “advisable” to give them the Sacrament, or when a person is elderly “it is good that they receive the Anointing of the Sick”, he said. Pope Francis concluded by praying that the Sacrament may become a more visible sign of compassion and hope.

Available online at www.thepopevideo.org and translated into 23 languages, the video for the July prayer intention was created and produced by the Pope’s Worldwide Network, in cooperation with La Machi Agency and the Dicastery for Communication.