He prescribed to them "MISERICORDINA." Pope Francis gave medication boxes with a Rosary inside and directed all to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet with it.
I think this is an awesome way to spread the message to pray. He is using imagery to remind the people that the real medicine for man is prayer. All of our stresses in life, our illnesses etc stem from our broken spirituality. According to studies, prayer helps in physical and psychological healing. It increases happiness.
Pope Francis is using new ways to evangelizes; ways that the world is not accustom to seeing from the Pope. I am happy he is doing this and hope he continues.
Source:
http://www.news.va/en/news/misericordina-the-best-spiritual-medicine
I think this is an absolutely horrible thing for the pope to do, can you honestly as a person say that it is a good idea to promote prayer over going and receiving medical treatment. Yes based on some studies if you pray for someone and they know you are praying or they pray themselves it can lead to a placebo like effect that causes increased healing (however I have yet to read any studies, and if you know of any please do direct me to them, that show anonymous intercessory prayer as having and positive effect on the healing of patients) however that healing is often in conjunction with actual medicine prescribed. However things like this where people in positions of authority over other people promote the use of prayer for healing with no mention of actual medicine has a potentially disastrous effect when it comes to people deciding that instead of going and getting their ailments checked by a doctor they will just pray and hope for the best.
ReplyDeleteIn many cases, prayer is all a patient has. Medical treatment only delays the inevitable. There is no such thing as a 'cure' per se. Our illnesses stem from our broken sinful nature. Prayer helps people not only cope, but also by bringing healthy of mind and body if God wills it. We all are meant to die one day. God in His wisdom will heal someone for a specific reason we may never know. The Pope is not advising anyone to skip medical treatment, but to focus on spiritual healing as well.
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