Cuides UIC Barcelona, the University Support Clinic for Advanced Diseases and Palliative Care, was the backdrop for the Pope Video for the month of October, which has just been released with the prayer intention that Pope Francis is entrusting to the entire Catholic Church through the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network. In October, the month in which the Synodal Path begins and World Mission Day is celebrated, the Holy Father has focused on the evangelising nature of the Church and calls on all of us to be missionary disciples. This mission to which all baptised individuals are called, focuses above all on “being available to his call and living in union with the Lord in the most everyday things, in our work, our meetings, our daily occupations, our everyday coincidences, always allowing ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit.”
The images shown in this video were recorded last September at the Cuides UIC Barcelona clinic, located on the second floor of the Hospital Universitari General de Catalunya, home to UIC Barcelona’s Sant Cugat Campus.
The message conveyed in the Pope Video focuses on the mission of Cuides UIC Barcelona, an initiative launched to offer comprehensive and quality care to people, family members and caregivers who are experiencing great vulnerability and suffering, having been diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening disease and a limited prognosis. Both the University and the Clinic share a commitment to help society by caring for people, especially at the end of their life, as well as to teaching and to knowledge transfer.
From missionary Church to missionary disciples
In a few days’ time, the Church’s Synodal Path will commence, a call to walk together, as “God's pilgrims and missionary people”. In the Pope Video from August 2021, Pope Francis emphasised the Church’s vocation, evangelisation. On that occasion, he advocated following, as a Church, a “more missionary option”, beginning with “a reform of ourselves”.
This month the Pope further elaborates on this call, inviting men and women to allow themselves to be "moved" by Christ and thus bear witness to a life that captivates others, that attracts them without obligations or demands. In the video, he tells us that every piece of evidence of life provokes admiration, and admiration causes others to wonder, “how do they do it?” or “where does this person find the love, the kindness, the gracious spirit with which they treat others?”
The Pope Video is an official global initiative aimed at disseminating the Holy Father's monthly prayer intentions. It is carried out by the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer). Since 2016, the Pope Video has had more than 163 million views across all Vatican social networks, has been translated into more than 23 languages and covered in the press in 114 countries. The videos are produced and directed by the Pope Video team from the Prayer Network, coordinated by Andrea Sarubbi and supported by the La Machi Communication for Good Causes agency. The project is also supported by Vatican Media.
The Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network is pontifical work that aims to encourage prayer and action among Catholics in relation to the challenges facing humanity and the mission of the Church. These challenges are presented in the form of prayer intentions entrusted by the Pope to the whole Church. His mission is part of the The Way of the Heart, a mission of compassion for the world. Founded in 1844 as the Apostleship of Prayer, it is currently active in 89 countries and is made up of more than 22 million Catholics.
For further information, please visit www.elvideodelpapa.org.
