World Day of the Sick

Tomorrow, 11 February (the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes), is the 20th World Day of the Sick. This year’s theme is “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” (Luke 17:19).

“On the occasion of the World Day of the Sick, which we will celebrate on 11 February 2012, the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, I wish to renew my spiritual closeness to all sick people who are in places of care or are looked after in their families, expressing to each one of them the solicitude and the affection of the whole Church. In the generous and loving welcoming of every human life, above all of weak and sick life, a Christian expresses an important aspect of his or her Gospel witness, following the example of Christ, who bent down before the material and spiritual sufferings of man in order to heal them.”

In his annual message for this observance, Pope Benedict XVI focuses on upon the “sacraments of healing,” the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation and that of the Anointing of the Sick, which “have their natural completion in Eucharistic Communion.”

To access the Holy Father’s message for this year’s observance, please visit:

Message of the Holy Father on the Occasion of the Twentieth World Day of the Sick (11 February 2012)