Illness is part of being human. How we deal with it is human, too. So Pope John Paul II established the Vatican World Day of the Sick in 1993 on the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, Feb. 11, to provide prayer and compassionate care for people at their most vulnerable time.

The Vatican’s theme for this year’s World Day of the Sick is the parable of the good Samaritan, in the Gospel of Luke. Consider that man left to die on the road to Jericho. When help finally comes, it is from a person who does not ask who the beaten man is or whether he “deserves” help. Instead, the good Samaritan’s actions are tangible. He doesn’t cross the road; instead he stops and responds with immediate, practical and sustainable care. He does what it takes to bring about the beaten man’s recovery. 

As a nurse and as a member of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, a critical part of my call is to not cross the road but to stop and see the presence of God in each person. The good Samaritan’s example teaches more than compassion; we are taught that every one of us has the ability and the obligation to help those suffering injury and illness. When Catholics ask, “What more can be done to alleviate suffering?”, one answer is found in the millions who suffer and die, not because they are untreatable, but because the world has abandoned them and has deemed their health care not worthy of investment.

Given that the Catholic Church is the largest unified provider of health care in the world, running a quarter of health care facilities worldwide, perhaps nowhere else is our obligation—and opportunity—to improve lives clearer. Faith-run health care facilities provide care in some of the most marginalized and resource-starved places in the world. They do so under extreme conditions, where women give birth without something as basic as water; healthy newborns die from preventable infections; health care workers struggle just to wash their hands; and infections spread due to the lack of sanitation. No one should ever suffer preventable disease and death for lack of safe water and a toilet. Nothing is more foundational to safe and dignified health care.

The most recent data paints a grim picture. In the 60 countries designated by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development as “fragile context states,” 37 percent of health care facilities do not have basic water services, and 81 percent do not have basic sanitation services. Catholic-run facilities have not been exceptions when it comes to these dangerous conditions. But now the Vatican is not simply walking past the health care facilities lacking safe water, sanitation and hygiene (collectively referred to as WASH). It is stopping and offering assistance.

As Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., has said, “No one needs lofty theological concepts to justify proper WASH. Without it, health care cannot be healthy.” He is prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and will represent Pope Leo XIV at the World Day of the Sick, in Chiclayo, Peru, where Leo was bishop until 2023.

This same dicastery led the launch of a pilot Vatican initiative in 2020 to get WASH into 150 Catholic-run health care facilities across 23 low-income countries. A group of organizations offered their expertise in support, with Catholic Relief Services, Caritas Internationalis and the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul helping lead the way. They are building and repairing WASH infrastructure, drilling for water, training staff, engaging communities, collaborating with governments, and ensuring maintenance to strengthen health care systems for the long run. This WASH health crisis is solvable. 

Jesus ends his parable of the good Samaritan with a simple call to action: “Go and do likewise.”

Thirty-four years ago, Pope John Paul II offered the inaugural message for the World Day of the Sick. He specifically referred to health care facilities and “the calvary of sufferings which are often neglected, not always suitably relieved, and sometimes even aggravated by a lack of adequate support.” He said special attention should be reserved “first of all, for developing countries—in Latin America, Africa and Asia—which are marked by serious deficiencies in health care. With the celebration of the World Day of the Sick, the church is promoting a renewed commitment to those populations, seeking to wipe out the injustice existing today by devoting greater human, spiritual, and material resources to their needs.”

Growing commitments from faith-based organizations—their refusal to “walk past” human suffering—will help ensure that no one is left to die along the road because their health care lacks something so integral and basic as WASH. Anglican and Methodist denominations are beginning to pilot their own initiatives to assess and address WASH conditions in health care facilities they run. Muslim leadership and funding organizations are also stepping forward. There remains a long way to go, but a global movement is emerging.

May the global church continue to prioritize WASH and grow this work into a global movement. The world will never be free from illness and disease, of course. But the ability to dramatically reduce preventable suffering and even death is in our hands. On this World Day of the Sick, the good Samaritan reminds us to stop as we walk the Jericho road. 

You can read Pope Leo XIV’s Vatican World Day of the Sick message here.

Theresa Sullivan, D.C., is the executive director of Daughters of Charity International Project Services. She is based in Southfield, Mich.