And if you are a pastor, a church leader, a chaplain, a deacon, a home group leader, a friend from the congregation who has been asked to visit someone in hospital — this article is especially written for you. Because the ministry of accompanying the sick is one of the most ancient, most sacred, and most humanly demanding callings in the life of any community of faith. It is also one of the least talked about, the least trained for, and the most feared.

On the morning of Monday, 11 May 2026, Pope Leo XIV received participants in the eighth joint colloquium organised by the Holy See’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and Jordan’s Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies. The theme chosen for this year’s gathering was “Human Compassion and Empathy in Modern Times.” In his address — delivered in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace, the Pope called Christians and Muslims to a common mission: “to revive humanity where it has grown cold, to give voice to those who suffer and to transform indifference into solidarity.”