Answering the call for compassion towards the sick and marginalised Pope Leo XIV’s theme for the 34th World Day of the Sick on 11 February, 2026 is “The compassion of the Samaritan: loving by bearing another’s pain.”
“Love is not passive; it goes out to meet the other. Being a neighbour is not determined by physical or social proximity, but by the decision to love. This is why Christians become neighbours to those who suffer, following the example of Christ, the true divine Samaritan who drew near to a wounded humanity.”
Drawing on the well-known Gospel figure of the Samaritan, who takes care of a suffering man who has been beaten and left for dead by thieves, this message resonates strongly with the work of Catholic Health Australia.
This year’s World Day of the Sick takes place against a sobering backdrop in Australia, with new figures showing a sharp rise in voluntary assisted dying. This makes access to high quality palliative and end of life care even more important, especially for vulnerable or marginalised people, including those living in rural and regional Australia.
Catholic Health Australia is the country’s largest non-government network of hospitals, aged and community care services – providing around 30 per cent of private hospital care and 12 per cent of aged care facilities – our members and ministries answer this call to compassion every day, offering care and support to people experiencing physical or mental ill-health, poverty or insecure housing, as well as those who have been pushed to the margins of society as a result of the complex interrelations of these vulnerabilities.
Motivating our work is a shared vision, grounded in the mission of the Gospel and reflected in our shared purpose statements: Like the Good Samaritan, we commit to “serve all with the best wisdom, resources, and attention we can offer. Likewise, we commit to “hear and have heard the voices of all, especially those who are weakest, most vulnerable, neglected and stigmatised in our society.”
Members and ministries at work
The need for properly resourced palliative care is becoming more important at a time when compassion is increasingly equated with hastening a person’s death, in contrast with the Christian tradition of care.
Our aged care providers have a strong focus on delivering compassionate care for elderly clients entering the end-of-life phase, ensuring they have dignity and independence as much as possible, including access to quality palliative care.
VMCH has developed innovative approaches to dementia care that focuses on the client’s dignity and end of life care. Mercy Health has developed a strategy that ensures families and health professionals are part of the delivery of comprehensive palliative care so that clients have, as far as possible, a comfortable end of life journey.
But the results of our commitments are seen across a wide range of settings, reflecting the scale, breadth and depth of CHA’s membership and services. To take just a few examples, St John of God Health Care’s 13th Horizon House recently opened in Perth providing safe housing and holistic support for young parents, and their babies, who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The new Cabrini Women’s Mental Health Centre offers life-changing care and support to women who have spent their lives struggling with undiagnosed mental health conditions. St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney provides outreach health support to people experiencing homelessness, meeting them on the streets or in emergency accommodation and delivering care in ways that work for them.
Cavalry Health Care is celebrating 140 years of compassionate, quality care, building on the legacy of six courageous Sisters of the Little Company of Mary, who sailed into Sydney on the SS Liguria in 1885.
Mater Mothers—home to Australia’s largest Neonatal Critical Care Unit and an internationally recognised Maternal Fetal Medicine Centre—welcomes 11,000+ babies each year and provides 24/7 specialist care for 2,000+ critically ill newborns. Partnering with the Aboriginal Community Controlled sector to support birthing in community for First Nations and refugee families, Mater embodies the Good Samaritan through coordinated, expert care.
Other CHA members have been at the forefront of new developments in robotic surgery in Australia, are designing and delivering Australia-first digital mental health services, or are global leaders in helping to establish guidelines for the ethical use of AI in healthcare.
In some regional and remote communities, Southern Cross Care Queensland continues to serve even when delivering care is complex and costly, because walking away would mean leaving people without the support they rely on.
Compassion and human dignity
At their heart, hospitals are communities of care and hospitality, grounded in compassion and a commitment to human dignity. And as Pope Leo reminds us, this community dimension is essential. The Good Samaritan did not act in isolation but ensured the injured man was entrusted to others who could continue his care.
In the same way, sustaining compassionate care today depends not only on the dedication of individual health workers, but on a society that values, supports and invests in the institutions entrusted with this mission, so they remain viable and able to serve those most in need.
It is in this spirit that Catholic Health Australia advocates for and supports systemic policy reform to build a sustainable health system. One of the most important outcomes of this advocacy has been the new Aged Care Act, which came into effect last November and on which CHA worked closely with the federal government to develop and implement. This is a historic reform that puts providers on a more sustainable footing to provide higher-quality care to older Australians.
This World Day of the Sick, at a time when societies are tempted to respond to suffering by ending life, rather than accompanying the suffering and marginalised with the best we have to offer, we renew our commitment to ongoing advocacy for reforms that support a viable health and aged care system, in which every patient or resident is received with dignity, respect and compassion. At the same time, we acknowledge and celebrate the vital contributions of our dedicated clinicians and other frontline workers, our senior leaders and the volunteers who quietly go about their work to follow the example of the Good Samaritan and of Jesus Christ in offering care, compassion and support to the most vulnerable members of our society.
Jenny Parker is the Chair of Catholic Health Australia
