Vatican healthcare expert to visit Liverpool

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, the President of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care is to visit Liverpool this Friday, 29 June. During his visit he will meet with those working in Hospital Chaplaincies in the Archdiocese of Liverpool and will celebrate Mass in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King. Cardinal Barragan will be visiting Liverpool at the invitation of Bishop Thomas Williams, the Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool, who has responsibility for health care provision in the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. Bishop Williams says: 'Cardinal Barragan's visit will present a unique opportunity for those connected with health care in the Archdiocese to meet with him. It will also be an occasion when those who work within the NHS for pastoral and patient care may be thanked for their work.' Cardinal Barragan was born in Toluca, Mexico in 1933 and was appointed Bishop of Zacatecas (Mexico) by Pope John Paul II in 1984. In January 1997 he became President of the Pontifical Council and was created Cardinal in October 2003. He is making a two-day visit to England and on Thursday 28 June he will be addressing the 'Catholics in Healthcare Third Annual Seminar' at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London, on the subject of 'Pastoral Care in Health'. The Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care was established in 1988 by Pope John Paul II and aims to co-ordinate the work of Catholics in health care throughout the world. Internationally it works with organisations such as the United Nations in looking at health care initiatives and maintains0 contact with local Churches and Bishops' Conferences. Source: Archdiocese of Liverpool