2012-02-05 L’Osservatore Romano
“Illness can be a salutary moment in which to experience the attention of others and to pay attention to others”, but it can also be the time to rediscover the saving power of faith. Benedict XVI reminded the faithful in St Peter's Square yesterday, Sunday, 5 February, at the Marian prayer of the Angelus, speaking of the upcoming World Day of the Sick that will be celebrated on Saturday, 11 February. Illness, the Pope added, is a typically human condition in which we feel strongly that we are not self-sufficient but need others. He nevertheless recognized that it “is also always a trial that can become even long and difficult”; and when healing is not forthcoming and suffering is prolonged we can be, as it were, overwhelmed, isolated, and then “our life is depressed and dehumanized”. How should we react to this “attack of Evil”, the Pontiff asked. “With the appropriate treatment”, he said, but we must not forget that “there is a crucial basic attitude with which to face illness and it is that of faith”. Lastly, Benedict XVI mentioned the celebration in Italy of the World Day for Life.