VANCOUVER (CCN) — Canada’s Catholic bishops are welcoming a Vatican message for World Mental Health Day calling for mental health care that goes beyond expressions of sympathy to provide practical support for people suffering from mental illness.
In a statement marking World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) endorsed a message from Sister Alessandra Smerilli, FMA, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, urging the Church to make mental health care a central part of its pastoral mission.
Sister Alessandra, a member of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, also known as the Salesian Sisters, said in her Oct. 10 message that “no psychological wound can ever erase the dignity of a human person.”
“Caring for mental health belongs to integral human development, which seeks the good of every person and of the whole person,” she said.
Pope Leo XIV has “named the problem clearly,” she added, quoting the pope’s observation during his June visit to Spain that mental health “is increasingly threatened in the context of societies that consider themselves advanced,” a sign that “there is something deeply wrong with a certain notion of progress.”
In his October prayer intention, Pope Leo called for Church-wide mental health ministry and an end to the stigma and discrimination those with mental illness often encounter.
Sister Alessandra said “the Church cannot limit herself to occasional or reactive responses” to mental health concerns.
“As Christians, we are called to develop a stable, competent, compassionate and preventive ministry that embraces the person in their totality: body, mind and spirit,” she said. “This requires trained pastoral workers, collaboration with health professionals, clear referral pathways, attention to suicide prevention, support for families and care for young people.”
She drew attention to young people and those who have experienced humanitarian crises as particularly vulnerable to mental health suffering.
“War, forced migration, political instability, environmental disasters and structural poverty” all “leave deep trauma in individuals and communities,” she said.
Young people “face new forms of emotional vulnerability linked to social pressure, economic uncertainty and isolation,” Sister Alessandra said.
The CCCB said Sister Alessandra’s message invites the Church and society to see mental health as part of the well-being of the whole person “and to meet those who suffer with understanding, compassion and hope.”
The bishops said the message is especially timely in Canada following the federal government’s announcement that it would not proceed with expanding medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to people whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness.
“The CCCB welcomes this commitment and urges that the necessary legislation be enacted before the current exclusion expires in March 2027,” the bishops said.
The statement did not address the government’s separate proposal to permit advance requests for MAiD from eligible patients who may subsequently lose decision-making capacity.
The bishops said those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect and should be helped to live as normally as possible.
“Illness and suffering never lessen a person’s intrinsic dignity,” they said. “They call us to draw closer, to strengthen the bonds of mutual belonging, and to recognize the abiding value of every person within the human family.”
They said concern must be expressed through practical care and called on Ottawa, working with the provinces and territories, to strengthen mental health and addiction services so that people can obtain timely, reliable help.
They also noted the Church’s role in offering support, saying parishes and pastoral ministries “are often among the first places where people seek a listening ear.”
The Church should offer compassionate accompaniment, work with health professionals, support families “and oppose the stigma that can deepen suffering,” the bishops said.
“Faith does not replace care; it walks alongside it and gives it hope.”
Archbishop Richard Smith of Vancouver used the occasion to draw attention to mental health ministries being developed in parishes, offering his prayers that “they will increasingly become places where people feel safe to speak honestly and share the burdens they may be carrying.”
Mental health struggles “can be deeply painful, and often they are carried quietly,” he said. “No one should have to walk that journey alone. Every person is loved by God and deserves to be met with compassion and hope.”
The Archdiocese of Vancouver launched its Mental Health Ministry in May 2025, focusing on establishing parish-based ministries that offer support and referrals to professional care while working to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness.
With files from OSV News
