The first FEAMC Symposium (European Federation of Catholic Medical Associations) after the pandemic took place from 27 to 29 May 2022 in Assisi. This was reported in a press release released today specifying the theme: “The challenges of skills and compassion in contemporary medicine”. About one hundred participants, delegates from 21 national Catholic medical associations in Europe, with 28 speakers engaged in reflections on the role of compassion in the various areas of medical practice: from hospitals to local medicine, from hospices to university policlinics. Among others, Jozef Glaza (Czech Republic) spoke on changes in health systems; Frans J. van Ittersum (Netherlands) on the doctor-patient relationship; Filippo Boscia (Italy) on perinatal medicine; Alexandre Lauretano Santos (Portugal) on Evidence-Based Medicine; Filippo Anelli (president of Fnomceo, Italy) on the medical profession today; Vidas Pilvinis (Lithuania) on the end of life. Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, gave a lectio magistralis on “The synodal journey in Europe: expectations and perspectives in the health sector”, while Msgr. Francesco Savino, bishop of Cassano allo Jonio and vice president of the CEI for the southern area, spoke with a report on “Compassion: practically?”.
The congressional works were held at the Domus Pacis, opened by the interventions of Vincenzo Defilippis, president of Feamc, and of Msgr. Jacques Suaudeau, ecclesiastical assistant Fiamc and Feamc. The inaugural liturgical celebration was presided over by Msgr. Simon Kulli, bishop of Sape, Albania, in the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, while the final celebration was presided over by the bishop of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino and of Foligno Domenico Sorrentino, in the upper basilica of San Francesco. “The Symposium on the challenges of professional skills and compassion – concludes the statement – is a contribution of European Catholic doctors to the synodal journey of the Catholic Church”. The final document emphasized “the style of compassion as a determinant of both the humanization of professional activities in health care and the posture of the mind and heart of the Catholic doctor”.
