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VATICAN-BLOOD Jun-13-2005 (350 words) With photos. xxxi
Vatican officials say giving blood helps Christians heal the sick
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Top Vatican officials encouraged blood donation, saying it was a powerful and practical way to carry out Christ's command to heal the sick.
Pope Benedict XVI, addressing pilgrims from his apartment window June 12, sent special greetings to blood donors everywhere to mark World Blood Donor Day June 14.
He said Christians should find inspiration for blood donation in Christ, who "redeemed us with his blood."
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, head of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, celebrated Mass near the Vatican June 12 with several hundred blood donation volunteers. In a sermon, he asked why people should give blood.
The answers are many, he said. For one thing, despite millions of donors each year, the world does not have enough blood to meet medical needs -- especially in poorer countries.
Many give blood out of a sense of solidarity or compassion for the sick, he said. But for Christians, donating blood should have another special meaning.
"Christ gave to his disciples a specific mandate: 'Heal the sick,'" he said.
"Beyond solidarity and natural compassion, there is this mandate of Christ, whom we obey with our innermost nature by giving blood. This is a great satisfaction, fulfilling from our hearts Christ's command to give health," Cardinal Lozano said.
The cardinal added that giving blood was also a concrete way for Christians to oppose what church leaders have called the "culture of death" and its values of selfish pleasure, power and domination.
The World Health Organization began sponsoring the annual blood donation awareness day in 2004. It said that 82 percent of the world's population does not have the certainty they will receive safe blood if a transfusion is needed.
The situation is worst in impoverished countries, where most people have to rely on family replacement donations or paid donations, the WHO said.
It said more than 80 million units of blood are donated every year around the world, but only 39 percent is collected in developing countries, where 82 percent of the global population lives.
END
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