Search
-
-
Remarks by Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J.,
Prefect, Dicastery for Promoting Integral, Human Development
Reflection on how mental health ministry is essential to integral human development and a universal human right
Conference on Mental Health Ministry
Vatican City
29 January 2024
Good afternoon! I am glad to be with you today as we reflect on the theme of mental health, which is of such fundamental importance. In a special way, I thank Deacon Ed Shoener, President of the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers, for the invitation to share a few remarks.
At the Dicastery, we become aware of the many barriers to integral human development. Many local Churches from around the world have identified poor mental health as a major problem in their communities. Promoting mental health is a priority. Churches and religious communities have begun programs to assist in gaining access to adequate mental health care. They engage in advocacy in civic life in order to improve social services, as well as to overcome stigma and to combat the social exclusion unjustly experienced by those with mental health challenges. The work of the Church in addressing mental health concerns includes both making more accessible adequate mental health care as well as increasing mental health ministry. The Church is a catalyst in connecting individuals with medical professionals and the treatment that they can provide, while the members of the Church accompany those experiencing mental health challenges.
In 2022, the World Health Organization issued a document entitled, “World Mental Health Report: Transforming Mental Health for All.” That Report stated that there are close to one billion people in the world living with a mental disorder, the majority of which do not have access to mental health care. In many cases, there are simply no services available. Or if they are available, they are difficult to reach. The quality of the mental health care available, in many places, can also present difficulties. The services offered may be inadequate, or there may be too few professionals to care for the number of those requesting assistance. Of course, a significant barrier to attending to mental health challenges is stigma. Within many cultures still, a mindset reinforcing the stigma against mental health care is cultivated. Fear of judgment and discrimination can prevent someone from seeking help.
Particularly worrying are the continual violations against the human rights of those with mental health disorders. These violations are committed by institutions and communities throughout the world, even within health care itself. They deny fundamental human rights, like food, housing, education, and even basic medical care. Instead of experiencing care and inclusion, individuals are excluded from community life in so many ways.
Poverty, social and economic inequalities, conflicts and war, humanitarian emergencies and the climate crisis, all negatively impact integral human development. Besides the rather obvious challenges that these situations pose, they also have a negative effect on mental health, compounding the obstacles to full human development.
In 2021, Pope Francis addressed the participants of a Conference for Mental Health. He expressed the need for civic, educational and medical institutions to have greater sensitivity to those suffering from mental health challenges. And he added: “It is also a question of helping to fully overcome the stigma with which mental illness has often been branded and, in general, to ensure that the culture of community prevails over the mentality of rejection, according to which greater care and attention is given to those who bring productive advantages to society, forgetting that those who suffer allow the irrepressible beauty of human dignity to shine forth in their wounded lives” (Message of the Holy Father to the participants in the second National Conference for Mental Health, 14 June 2021). There is an urgent need to overcome the barriers that prevent the growth and maintaining of the good mental health of individuals, families and communities. Those experiencing mental health challenges need to be shown respect and offered care, medical or otherwise. In Laudato Sì, Pope Francis has called upon the world to implement an ecology of daily life, which incorporates environmental, economic, social, cultural and spiritual
realities such that, in a community and in society, no one is left behind but rather is welcomed and loved (cf. Laudato Sì, Chapters IV and VI). This ecology of daily life invites us to find concrete ways to promote mental health. Sharing best practices and building networks is essential in the fields of mental health care and ministry.
In light of the call of Pope Francis and the concerns of so many in the Church, I am glad to recognize the efforts of the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers. I pray that the work being done today will bear much fruit.
Click Here to download a PDF of the remarks by Cardinal Czerny (English)
-