Theme for the 34th World Day of the Sick 2026

“The compassion of the Samaritan: loving by bearing the pain of the other”

“The compassion of the Samaritan: loving by bearing the pain of the other” is the theme chosen by the Holy Father for the next World Day of the Sick.

The theme, centred on the Gospel figure of the Samaritan who manifests love by taking care of the suffering man who has fallen into the hands of thieves, is intended to emphasize this aspect of love for one’s neighbour: love needs concrete gestures of closeness, through which we take on the suffering of others, especially those who are ill, often in a context of fragility due to poverty, isolation and loneliness.

Today too, Jesus Christ, the “good Samaritan”, draws close to wounded humanity to pour out, through the sacraments of the Church, “the oil of consolation and the wine of hope” (Preface “Jesus the Good Samaritan”), thus inspiring actions and gestures of help and closeness for those who live in conditions of fragility due to illness.