In Feb. 11 remarks before reciting the Angelus before thousands gathered at St. Peter’s Square here on the 15th World Day of the Sick, Pope Benedict XVI sent greetings "to health agents worldwide, aware of the importance in our society of their service to the sick."

“It is necessary to support the development of palliative treatments that offer integral care and dispense to incurably sick people that human support and spiritual accompaniment they so need,” the pope said.

He noted that the World Day of the Sick is held on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, recalling the first apparition of the Virgin Mary to St. Bernadette, which occurred Feb. 11, 1858.

The shrine in Lourdes has become a world center of pilgrimages and of intense Marian spirituality, the pope said, adding that it has become “the object of numerous sick pilgrims, who on listening to Mary most holy, receive the encouragement to accept their sufferings and to offer them for the salvation of the world, uniting them to those of Christ crucified.”

The pope expressed “my spiritual closeness and affection to our sick brothers and sisters, with a special remembrance for those who are affected by particularly serious or painful illnesses.”

He commended “the sick and those suffering in body and spirit throughout the world” to the protection of the Virgin Mary.

In the afternoon following the Angelus message, Pope Benedict met with thousands of sick people, who earlier attended a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, presided over by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the pope's vicar for Rome.

In a message for the observance of the 15th World Day of the Sick Feb. 11, the pope said that the incurably and terminally ill have the right of medical assistance and spiritual care to bear sickness and death in a dignified manner.

Pope Benedict issued challenges to the medical community, to the church and to national governments to ensure that care for those dying with terminal diseases is improved.

“The church turns her eyes to those who suffer and call attention to the incurably ill, many of whom are dying from terminal diseases,” he said. “They are found on every continent, particularly in places where poverty and hardship cause immense misery and grief.”

The official international celebration of the World Day of the Sick was held in Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 11, with a conference sponsored by the Vatican and a Mass.

The pope said, in the message dated Dec. 8 and released Dec. 13, that he would “be spiritually present” there, “united with those meeting to discuss the plight of the incurably ill in our world and encouraging the efforts of Christian communities in their witness to the Lord’s tenderness and mercy.”

Observances also were scheduled in dioceses or parishes throughout the world during the weekend of Feb. 10-11.

Pope Benedict XVI authorized special indulgences in order "to enrich" the World Day of the Sick and to highlight Christian teaching on "the value and function of suffering," according to a Feb. 5 Vatican statement.

The pope called for the implementation of “just social policies” to help in the elimination of “the causes of many diseases” and the improvement of care for the dying and the terminally ill.

“There is a need to promote policies which create conditions where human beings can bear even incurable illnesses and death in a dignified manner,” he said, pointing to the need for more palliative care centers.

“This is a right belonging to every human being, one which we must all be committed to defend,” the pontiff said.

Acknowledging that human life “has intrinsic limitations and sooner or later it ends in death,” Pope Benedict said that health professionals and national officials must continue to promote advancements that will limit the suffering now faced by too many.

“Many millions of people in our world still experience insanitary living conditions and lack access to much-needed medical resources, often of the most basic kind, with the result that the number of human beings considered ‘incurable’ is greatly increased,” he said.

“Sickness inevitably brings with it a moment of crisis and sober confrontation with one’s own personal situation,” the pope said. “Despite the advances of science, a cure cannot be found for every illness, and thus, in hospitals, hospices and homes throughout the world we encounter the sufferings of our many brothers and sisters who are incurably and often terminally ill.”

While the Catholic Church has always sought to follow the “example of the Good Samaritan” in showing “particular concern for the infirm,” the pope urged that Catholic health-care professionals, pastoral ministers, volunteers and family members to continue to “stand alongside the suffering and to attend to the dying striving to preserve their dignity at these significant ...