(Vatican Radio) Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva spoke on Wednesday at the World Trade Organization (WTO) during a discussion on intellectual property rights.
The Vatican diplomat said access to health care must always be assured when discussing intellectual property.
“As we are all aware, health is a fundamental human right, essential for the exercise of many other rights, and it is necessary for living a life in dignity,” – Archbishop Jurkovič said – “The realization of the right to health should be a fundamental goal of national policies and programmes, regardless of respective economic, social, cultural, religious or political contexts. However, for millions of people around the world, the full enjoyment of the right to health remains an elusive goal, due, inter alia, to obstacles in access to high quality, affordable, and acceptable medicines.
The full text of the statement is below
Statement by H.E. Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva
at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Council, Geneva, 9 November 2016
Mr. President,
Since this is the first time my Delegation is taking the floor during the current session of the TRIPs Council, allow me to begin by congratulating you on your assumption of the Chair and by assuring you of the full support of the Holy See Delegation. The initiative of the UN Secretary General echoes the concern expressed by the Holy See regarding agreements on intellectual property and access to medicines and essential health care. The achievement of a stronger balance between the protection of the right of inventors, international human rights law and public health objectives is clearly foreseen in Sustainable Development Goal 3: to Achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC). This is a unique moment in history. Ensuring the success of the SDGs, including an end to the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combating hepatitis, water-borne and other communicable diseases will require global solidarity and partnership, especially in times of diverse and demanding global challenges.
As the UN Secretary-General has stated, in spite of all the efforts and the promising results from the Millennium Development Goals, millions have been left behind; consequently, Member States have agreed on the Sustainable Development Goals targeting the year 2030. In the Encyclical Letter Laudato sii Pope Francis recalls the troubling extent of exclusion in our world “(…) there is little in the way of clear awareness of problems which especially affect the excluded. Yet, they are the majority of the planet’s population, billions of people (…)”. [49, 51]
2. Our focus must thus remain strong and we must remain unwavering in our commitment to leave no one behind and to build a more sustainable world by 2030. Access to affordable medicines no longer represents a challenge just for the Least Developed and other developing countries; it has also become an increasingly urgent issue for developed countries. In particular, States find themselves unable to combat antimicrobial resistance. Moreover, developing countries are confronted with a serious lack of new medicines, even as public health budgets are constrained worldwide.
As we are all aware, health is a fundamental human right, essential for the exercise of many other rights, and it is necessary for living a life in dignity. The realization of the right to health should be a fundamental goal of national policies and programmes, regardless of respective economic, social, cultural, religious or political contexts. However, for millions of people around the world, the full enjoyment of the right to health remains an elusive goal, due, inter alia, to obstacles in access to high quality, affordable, and acceptable medicines. This constitutes a challenge to the flourishing of human dignity, which represents the basis of all human rights, including the right to life, health and integral development of the human person.
Access to essential medicines, which satisfy the priority health care needs of the population, is a key component of the right to health (WHO definition available at: http://www.who.int/medicines/services/essmedicines_def/en/). Since essential medicines must be selected with due regard to disease prevalence and public health relevance, evidence of clinical efficacy and safety, and comparative costs and cost effectiveness, they should be available at prices that are affordable both to individuals and local communities. Thus, if we are to put in place policies that reflect human dignity and a human rights approach we must confront and remove barriers, address questions of affordability, and particularly, temper a disproportionate and exaggerated demand for profits. Through dialogue, which represents the best way to confront the problems of our world and to seek solutions that are truly effective, we can contribute towards the building of a better world and a better future for coming generations. Three helpful principles for such dialogue are: solidarity, subsidiarity, and concern for the common good. Solidarity means we care about the concerns of others as much as our own. Subsidiarity means we accept others as equals, allows them to speak for themselves, we listen, and we help them to participate if they need such help.
3. The Report of the High-Level Panel represents a point of departure from which we could start to discuss remedies and correct the misalignments and policy incoherencies between the individual and corporate rights of inventors, innovators or manufacturers and broader human rights. This will facilitate a discussion of trade and health in the context of the common good and emphasize access to technologies as a right linked to health and life. Indeed, “underlying the principle of the common good is respect for the human person as such, endowed with basic and inalienable rights ordered to his or her integral development” (Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter, Laudato si par. 157).
As stated by Pope Francis: “Interdependence and the integration of economies should not bear the least detriment to existing systems of health care and social security; instead, they should promote their creation and good functioning. Certain health issues…require urgent political attention, above and beyond all other commercial or political interests.”( Address of Pope Francis at the United Nations Office in Nairobi, 26 November 2015.)
Thank you, Mr. President.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) A new book that explores the themes and the content of Pope Francis’ homilies and discourses from when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires was presented on Thursday in the Vatican.
Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Cardinal-elect Blase Cupich and the newly elected Superior General of the Jesuits, Fr Arturo Sosa, were present for the presentation together with man behind the book.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
Jesuit father Antonio Spadaro , no newcomer to other editorial adventures that feature Pope Francis, is the man who collected the material that makes up the book and edited it giving life to the very first unabridged collection of the writings of Jorge Mario Bergoglio during the 14 years he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.
He explained that its very title which translates loosely into: “In your eyes are my words” speaks of Pope Francis’ need to look people in the eyes when he is talking to them.
Francis – he says – never sees a generic mass or crowd in front of him, nor is he capable of fixing his gaze on a piece of paper he may be reading from without relating personally to the people he is speaking to.
The volume, presented on Thursday at the Jesuit Curia in Rome, is a kind of an ‘opera omnia’ of Bergoglio’s episcopal ministry. Most appropriately, it also features an eye-to-eye conversation between the Pope and Fr. Spadaro about the main themes of Francis’ papacy and about how his personal gestures and choices – right from the very first days of his pontificate – have been molded and charged by his experience as a leader of the flock in Buenos Aires.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday warned Christians against the temptation of a show or entertainment religion that constantly seeks novelty and revelations, comparing it to fireworks that provide us with a fleeting brightness before dying. His comments came during his Mass celebrated on Thursday morning at the Santa Marta residence.
The Pope’s reflections during his homily were inspired by the day’s reading about Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees’ question on when the Kingdom of God would come and he stressed how Christians must guard hope every day whilst waiting for the fullness of the Kingdom. Noting that Jesus told the Pharisees “the Kingdom of God is among you,” Pope Francis compared it to a small seed that is planted and grows on its own over time. He explained that God helps this seed to grow but without drawing attention to it.
“The Kingdom of God is not a ‘show’ religion: one that is always seeking new things, revelations, messages … God spoke through Jesus Christ: this is the last Word of God. The other one is like fireworks that lit you up for a moment and then what is left behind? Nothing. There is no growth, there is no light, there’s nothing: just an instant. And we have been tempted many times by this entertainment religion of seeking things that are extraneous to the revelation, to the meekness of the Kingdom of God that is among us and which grows. For this is not about hope, this is about the desire to have something in our hands. Our salvation comes from hope, the hope of a man who sows the seed or the woman who makes the bread, mixing yeast and flour: a hope that grows. Instead, this artificial brightness only lasts an instant and then it dies away, like fireworks: they are not needed for giving light to a house. It’s just a show.”
Asking what we should do whilst awaiting the fullness of the Kingdom of God, Pope Francis explained that we must guard and take care of our hope.
“Guard it with patience. Patience in our work, in our sufferings… Guarding it like the man who has planted a seed and who takes care of the plant, ensuring there are no weeds close to it, so it will grow. Guard our hope. And here is the question that I put to you: if the Kingdom of God is among us today, if all of us have this seed inside us, if we have the Holy Spirit there, how do I guard it? How do I discern this, how can I discern the good plant from the seed of the darnel? The Kingdom of God grows and what must we do? Guard it. Grow through hope and guard that hope. Because we have been saved through hope. And this is the thread: hope is the thread in the history of salvation. Our hope of meeting the Lord for sure.”
In conclusion, the Pope went on to describe how the Kingdom of God becomes strong through hope.
“Let us ask ourselves: Do I have hope? Or do I go ahead as best I can without knowing how to tell the good from the bad, the darnel seed, the light, the meek light of the Holy Spirit from the brightness of this artificial thing? Let us ask ourselves about our hope in this seed that is growing inside us and on how to guard our hope. The Kingdom of God is among us but we must, through rest, work, discernment, guard the hope of this Kingdom of God that grows until the time when the Lord will come and everything will be transformed. In a brief moment: everything! The world, us, everything. And as Paul said to the Christians of Thessalonica, ‘we shall be with the Lord for ever.’”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis revealed on Thursday that the search for Christian unity is one of his principle concerns, one that he prays may be shared by every baptized person. The Pope’s words came as he met in the Vatican with participants at a plenary session of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The meeting, from November 8th to 11th is exploring the theme “What model of full communion?”
Listen to Philippa Hitchen’s report:
In his words to the group of ecumenical experts from across the globe, the Pope recalled the many important encounters he has had this year with leaders of other Christian communities. In particular he recalled his recent visit to Lund in Sweden to jointly preside at a Lutheran-Catholic commemoration of the start of the Protestant Reformation . That visit, he said, reminded him of the so called ‘Lund Principle’, formulated by the World Council of Churches back in 1952, which states ‘churches should act together in all matters except those in which deep differences of conviction compel them to act separately’.
Pope Francis stressed that Christian unity is an essential requirement of our faith, a journey of personal and community conversion to the will of Christ. He warned against three false models of communion, starting with the belief that we can achieve unity through diplomatic maneuvers or human efforts alone.
Unity, he insisted, is a gift from God and our task is to welcome that gift and make it visible to others. Rather than just a goal to be achieved, he said, we should see the search for unity as a journey that we undertake together with patience, determination, effort and commitment, knowing that all of us are sinners for whom God has infinite mercy. Remember, he said, that when we work, pray and serve the needy together, we are already united.
The second false model that he warned against was the model of uniformity. When theological, liturgical, spiritual and canonical differences are genuinely rooted in the apostolic tradition, he said, they are not a threat, but rather a treasure for the unity of the Church. Trying to suppress such differences, he warned, as happened in the past, goes against the Holy Spirit who enriches different Christians with a variety of gifts.
Finally Pope Francis cautioned against the idea of unity as ‘going back in time’ to incorporate one church into another. No one should deny their own faith history, he said, and no-one should tolerate the practice of proselytism which he called ‘a poison for the ecumenical journey’. True ecumenism, the Pope concluded, is when we focus not on our own reasons and regulations, but rather on the Word of God which requires us to listen, to receive and to witness to the world.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday urged the faithful not to fall into indifference but to become active instruments of mercy.
Addressing the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the weekly General Audience at a time in which the Holy Year of Mercy is coming to an end, he reflected on the corporal work of mercy that calls us to visit the sick and the imprisoned.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
Recalling the many readings from the Scriptures that tell of how, during his life, Jesus incessantly reached out to the other, Pope Francis said: He is our model as we consider the corporal works of mercy that call on us to visit the sick and the imprisoned.
With these works of mercy, he said, the Lord invites us to perform gestures of great humanity.
Sick persons, he said, often feel very alone, and something as simple as a smile, the warm touch of a hand and a little company can prove to be excellent medicine.
Praising those who visit the sick in hospitals, the Pope said their contribution is of inestimable value.
When this kind of work is carried out in the name of the Lord, he explained, it also becomes an eloquent and effective expression of mercy: “Let us not deprive sick persons from obtaining comfort, or ourselves from being enriched by closeness to he who suffers”.
Likewise, the Pope continued, visiting the imprisoned is a fruitful way of bringing the Lord’s healing presence to those who are paying for their mistakes. Deprived of their freedom, they especially need to hear the message of God’s merciful love and forgiveness, and in this way to recognize their worth and dignity.
“Whatever act a prison inmate may have committed, he remains beloved by God” he said.
“Who can penetrate the intimacy of his conscience and understand what he is feeling? Who can understand his pain and remorse? It is too easy to wash one’s hands of the issue saying ‘he made a mistake’” he said.
As Christians, the Pope said, we are called upon to bring God’s mercy and its redemptive power to our brothers and sisters in need.
Pope Francis also spoke of how he has a special place in his heart for prisoners and recalled that Jesus himself, though innocent, suffered in prison for our sake.
He also mentioned the apostles, Peter and Paul, who used the time of their imprisonment to pray and proclaim the Gospel.
Finally, thinking back to last Sunday’s Jubilee of Prisoners and to his meeting with a group of inmates who told him they wanted to go on to share Saint Paul’s experience with other prisoners, the Pope pointed out that we can all be instruments of God’s mercy with a gesture, a word or a simple visit which, he said, have the power to give back joy and dignity to he or she whose joy and dignity have been taken away.
(from Vatican Radio)…