Pope chooses theme for World Day of the Sick 2026

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Loving someone who is sick requires "concrete gestures of closeness," just like that shown in the Gospel story of the Samaritan who helps the person beaten by thieves, said a Vatican office.

The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development announced Sept. 26 that Pope Leo XIV had chosen the theme for the church's next celebration of the World Day of the Sick: "The compassion of the Samaritan: Loving by bearing the pain of the other."

The world day is celebrated annually on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes Feb. 11. A papal message for the celebration usually is published in early January.

Explaining the pope's choice of a theme, the dicastery said the theme "highlights this aspect of love of neighbor: love needs concrete gestures of closeness, through which we enter into the suffering of others, those who are ill, especially those who at the same time experience poverty, isolation and loneliness."

Established by St. John Paul II in 1992, the dicastery said the world day "is a privileged moment of prayer, spiritual closeness and reflection for the entire church and for civil society, who are all called to recognize the face of Christ in our sick and vulnerable brothers and sisters"

"Like the good Samaritan who bent down to help the injured man along the road, the Christian community is also called to stop and help those who suffer and be evangelical witnesses of closeness and service to the sick and most vulnerable," the dicastery said.