VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI and other church leaders said it was the moral responsibility of nations to guarantee access to health care for all of their citizens, regardless of social and economic status or their ability to pay.
Access to adequate medical attention, the pope said in a written message Nov. 18, was one of the “inalienable rights” of man.
The pope lamented the great inequalities in health care around the globe. While people in many parts of the world aren’t able to receive essential medications or even the most basic care, in industrialized countries there is a risk of “pharmacological, medical and surgical consumerism” that leads to “a cult of the body,” the pope said.
“The care of man, his transcendent dignity and his inalienable rights” are issues that should concern Christians, the pope said.
Because an individual’s health is a “precious asset” to society as well as to himself, governments and other agencies should seek to protect it by “dedicating the equipment, resources and energy so that the greatest number of people can have access.”
Pope says health care an “inalienable right”
27 Comments to “Pope says health care an “inalienable right””
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Pope says health care an “inalienable right”
The Pope also says that Moses parted the Red Sea, that Noah survived the flood and that Adam fathered all of humanity.
Gonna quote that?
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[Adam fathered all of humanity.]
Must have been a lot of incestuous relationships for that to have happened. Maybe that’s how right-wingers came to be. Inbreeding causes severe mental problems and low I.Q.s.
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Must have been a lot of incestuous relationships
Whoa….
YOU are the one quoting the Pope. Not me!
Christian bigot zealot Right Winger Church in our Government freak!
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I see you guys have made up. H-o-w n-i-c-e, as the Church Lady would say.
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So if you go an evil capitalist hospital and you can’t pay are you turned away?
NO.
Thus you have access regardless.
Illegal Aliens due it like candy.
Hell, now they even have the right t in-state tuition even if they aren’t legally a resident of this country let alone the state.
So what’s a little “free” health care…
oh, right, you want the government to control who lives and who dies. I see…
Government bureaucrats are infinitely better, more impartial, and more compassionate after all.-
indy, if you beleive that access to emergency rooms equals health care, I don’t want to meet your doctor.
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if you beleive that access to emergency rooms equals health care
The problem is, of course, is that a vast majority of the people who choose not to buy health insurance think it IS health care.
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[The problem is, of course, is that a vast majority of the people who choose not to buy health insurance think it IS health care.]
Ah, so you agree they should be required to buy health insurance, which is exactly what the legislation mandates.
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Ah, so you agree they should be required to buy health insurance
No. Not at all. I think that responsible Republican Daddys teach their children to grow up and care for themselves and their families. That they buy health insurance.
It’s the poor helpless children tragically born into Democrat families that suffer from having to grow up without a clue as to how life works.
Not one single Democrat I know teaches their children the life lessons that Democrats legislate.
No one teaches their kids to get hooked on drugs and expect clean needles.
Not one single Democrat I know teaches their kids to grow up, skip school and not get a job and just expect other people to take care of them.
Not one single Democrat I know thinks that it’s good practice to live life uninsured.
Not one single Democrat I know teaches their daughters to go have unprotected sex knowing that she can just abort the child.
Yet. Yet. This is EXACTLY what Democrats legislate.
Silly Leftists.
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Funny, all the democrats I know are college educated and earn a good living while the republicans I know work at some mediocre job and just barely get by.
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The only ones I ever hear who claim that emergency rooms mean equal access to health care, are politicians and their followers who oppose health care reforms.
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all the democrats I know are college educated
An interesting fact. On two separate levels:
1. Even as they are college educated, they all know shit.
2. That fact has nothing to do with the discussion.Actually, you reinforce my position.
Democrats know, they KNOW, that people should work hard, get educated and find a good job. They teach their kids that. They LIVE that.
But when it comes to contributing to society, to giving back, to helping those who have less than them, they punt.
They don’t give their money. They don’t work to make the world better. Rather, they legislate their charity. Then, satisfied they did good, check out, go to bed and consider themselves “good people”.
If they took a second, however, they would go back and see that the policies they implemented is chock full of good intentions, they actually harm people; not help them.
Minimum wage? Horrible policy for the marginal employees.
Health Care? Massive increases in expenditure all the while providing much poorer care.
Land use restrictions? Massive increase in the cost of housing.
Rent control? Massive increases in homelessness, home costs and quality of affordable housing.
I respect the intention, I abhor the laziness.
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[They don’t give their money. They don’t work to make the world better. Rather, they legislate their charity. Then, satisfied they did good, check out, go to bed and consider themselves “good people”.]
And just how do right-wingers “work to make the world better?”
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And just how do right-wingers “work to make the world better?”
We donate more money to charity.
We volunteer more of our time.
We don’t pass frackin Ass Hat laws that hurt the people we are trying to help.That’s three.
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You donate money to do what and volunteer to do what?
Your Republican politicians favor outsourcing our jobs to other countries, pass laws that destroy our economy, allow companies to destroy the environment, don’t care about working conditions that may result in injury or death, invade countries with no strategy to win, allow war profiteering, have no concern about the working conditions of workers in U.S. companies overseas, don’t care about trying to make higher education more affordable…
The most effective way to make a difference is for the government to take action on a large scale. Donating $15 to some church every year doesn’t make the world a better place.
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It is for Illegals.
And the whole premise of the screed is that you don’t have health care access so the government must come in and mandate that everyone have it and take over the process.
So, again, if you like the the idea of government bureaucrats deciding who lives and who dies, that’s your fault. Not mine. -
Ben, your outsourcing argument really sucks. If your programming job was sent to India, and you don’t want to get another job in the service economy (i. e. some store), then I dare you to continue.
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Continue what?
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@indyfromaz:
[if you like the the idea of government bureaucrats deciding who lives and who dies, that’s your fault]
Gov’t is running Medicare and the VA right now – and doing a dang good job for tens of millions of people.
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So Medicares’ imminent and absolutely real bankruptcy and all the VA abuse stories are what?
That dang good job? -
I guess you changed the subject.
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Healthcare should indeed be a right and I think it’s so hypocritical when I see so called “christians” bash universal healthcare. I thought christianity was all about helping the needy and less affluent.
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No, Christianity is about believing in the great Jebus! and wanting to ban abortion.
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it’s so hypocritical when I see so called “christians” bash universal healthcare
We also think it’s a sin to take the name of the Lord in vain. Yet we don’t legislate THAT either.
Nice that you are Christian when it serves you.
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pino. can’t ‘take the lord’s name in vain’ if you dont believe in a lord.
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pino. can’t ‘take the lord’s name in vain’ if you dont believe in a lord.
The argument is valid either way.
If you DO have faith, then you understand that you can have a religious belief that is inappropriate to legislate into l aw.
If you do NOT have faith, then it’s silly to point out to me that some crazy Christian in a funny hat says that I should or should not do a thing.
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Ya caught me.
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DRUDGE RETORT 