The dignity of the human person is "inviolable" and "takes first place" from the moment of conception to the moment of death, Pope Francis told the Commission for Charity and Health of the Italian bishops' conference on Friday. "Political and administrative choices, which are called to safeguard the right to health enshrined in the Italian Constitution, or the choices of those who manage treatment centres, cannot be guided by money alone," the pope added. "The growing health poverty among the poorest sections of the population, due precisely to the difficulty of accessing treatment, should not leave anyone indifferent and we all need to increase our efforts to ensure that the rights of the most vulnerable people are protected," Francis said. The pope also warned against the indiscriminate application of a business model in the health sector which, rather than optimising available resources, risks producing "human waste". "Optimising resources means using them ethically and in a spirit of solidarity without penalising the most fragile people," Francis said.
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