Pope Shenouda’s Address at the Graduation Ceremony of the St. Stephen Medical Family

Pope Shenouda III speaks to a group of doctors at the beginning of their professional lives, explaining that medicine is one of the best professions through which a person can serve God and people. He points out that the Lord Christ cared for the spiritual and physical well-being of human beings together; therefore, a doctor can combine caring for the body with caring for the spirit in the life of the patient. He emphasizes that the patient is in a state of weakness and need, and therefore the doctor must treat him with love, compassion, mercy, and integrity.

Spiritual Message

The Pope emphasizes the importance of the doctor being a believing and religious person because the doctor’s spiritual life affects his work and the patients’ trust in him. A believing doctor can give the patient hope and reassurance and make him feel that God is working with him through his knowledge, prayers, and blessing. He also warns against the sins of lying and pride, because lying may deprive a patient of spiritual preparation, while pride may lead to wrong decisions or to refusing to seek the help of other doctors when necessary.

Educational Lesson

A doctor should combine knowledge, integrity, humility, and compassion and should not consider obtaining a bachelor’s degree to be the end of his education. The Pope emphasizes the necessity of continuing medical study, keeping up with the latest research and scientific journals, and pursuing further specializations and qualifications, because medical knowledge does not know stopping or taking a permanent vacation.

Practical Application

The Pope advises doctors to be cheerful and reassuring and to give patients words of hope and encouragement, because a patient’s psychological condition can be greatly affected by the doctor’s manner and words. He also asks them not to become “merchants of health” who make money their primary goal, but to dedicate part of their service to God and to the poor and needy, making money a means rather than an end.

He also encourages them to give God a clear place in their clinics, whether through words of faith or by providing spiritual books and materials for patients while they wait. Finally, he emphasizes that graduation does not mean becoming independent of God, but that spiritual life remains a permanent necessity. He warns them about the seriousness of a doctor’s mistakes because they can affect a human life, and therefore the doctor must recognize the value of his calling and his responsibility before God and people.

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