Analyzing current tensions between Church and Portuguese government, in a recent meeting with journalists at the monastery of São Vicente de Fora, Cardinal José Policarpo maintained that “readiness for dialogue and the objective analysis of the situations are the best way for the Church to show her willingness to perform an important service in society”. “By this attitude it is possible to avoid furnishing polemical arguments and room for manoeuvre to those forces that do not accept or would like to obstruct our social involvement”, he added. The Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon also recalled that “the Concordat endorses the principle of cooperation between Church and State”, and expressed his own trust in the institutions of the country, in spite of the recent tensions that have arisen round the bill on religious and spiritual assistance in hospitals. “It is unthinkable to assist invalids with parish structures”, commented the cardinal, who denounced the fact that “the current draft of the government’s legislation reveals total ignorance of how assistance to the sick is provided”. He said he was favourable to the idea that “hospitals should provide an ecumenical chaplaincy service”, but he defended “the dimension and role due to the Catholic Church” in this field. “Another problem that needs to be solved is to decide whether chaplains should form part of the civil service structure”, concluded Cardinal Policarpo: “I’m not in favour of this idea, yet it’s true that a solution needs to be found that economically rewards the chaplain for the time he devotes to hospital service”.
