On May 23, the head of a Vatican delegation to the World Health Assembly on Wednesday called for universal health care coverage and an “integral” approach to health care that responds to a person’s spiritual needs.

Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, head of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, stressed the need for “integral development” that also attends to “the spiritual state of the person”. “What we hold important is the human person – each person, each group of people, and humanity as a whole,” he said. The Holy See “strongly believes” that universal health care coverage as a goal of government policy is a more certain way to achieve “the wide range of health concerns,” he said.

However, he voiced “serious concerns” about the assembly’s secretariat report and its executive board-recommended resolution that includes “emergency contraception.” He said some of these drugs have an abortifacient effect. So the Vatican wants universal health care, but denies vulnerable women the right to decide when and if to have children.

Epicureanism is the human face of humanism. The rights and needs of the human being are central to everything Epicurus taught. This is why male Epicureans have to be (moderate) feminists and believe in equality of the sexes. They respect the judgement of pregnant women to do the right thing with their own bodies.