A nation's healthcare system cannot be run simply as a business because human lives are at stake, Pope Francis said.
"If there is a sector in which the 'throwaway culture' demonstrates its most painful consequences, it is the healthcare sector," the Pope told patients, medical professionals, pastors and volunteers attending a meeting sponsored by the Italian bishops' national office for healthcare ministry.
Anticipating the celebration on February 12 of the World Day of the Sick and marking the 20th anniversary of the bishops' office, the Pope said Catholics obviously give thanks for the advances in medicine and technology that have enabled doctors to cure or provide better care for the sick.
