The Catholic Church
Towards The Problem
of Smoking Harm Reduction

Seminar

We aim at initiating a wide debate on how to address the problem of lack of help and harm reduction solutions for smoking addic. The goal is to find ways to help them and reduce health harm (psychical and mental). We are vocal about the need for establishing global, public, systemic and effective policies that would allow to provide information and help people fight their smoking addiction

25.05.2022 / Wednesday / 10:00

Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
Auditorium Benedetto XVI
Piazza di Sant'Apollinare 49, 00186 Rome

The Seminar Patronage

How it all started?

Testimony

H.E. Amb. Przemysław Häuser-Schöneich

Our life is a mix of various stories. Some of them are important and have a deeper meaning, others are less significant and almost forgotten. The story of my late brother has made a huge impact on my life. He was ten years older than me hence - like most big brothers - he always has been my guardian and a refuge for me. After all, it is a very nice feeling to have somebody you can rely on. I believed it would always be like that. Unfortunately, at some point, our paths parted and we lost contact for a quite long time.

However, towards the end of my brother's life, God wanted us to be reunited and rebuild our brotherly bond. This time around I was the one to take on the role of his guardian, as my brother had been diagnosed with lung cancer.

Every death is difficult and traumatic, but my brother's death was particularly dramatic for me. He practically died in my arms struggling to catch his last breath.According to the doctor-friend, my brother was killed by smoking.

To this day, I ask myself if there was anything I could have done to keep my brother alive and if I could have helped him to get off his self-destruction smoking routine?

My life experience teaches me that the difficult questions of life are worth sharing with others and seeking answers together. In my case, it is natural to look for answers in my community of the Catholic Church. Maybe I failed to save the life of one person, but together we might be able to save the lives of millions.

Amici pro Sanitate

Friends, Catholics for many years absorbed in the idea of working for the most needy, excluded and abandoned. Advocating for the issues most important to people, such as health, assistance in times of need and active opposition to social indifference brought them together in friendship many years ago and continues to this day.

Rev. Prof.
Robert Nęcek

A priest of the Archdiocese of Krakow, educator, ethicist, an eminent expert on the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church and issues on social communication.

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Prof.
Szczepan Cofta

Doctor of medicine, pulmonary internist. For several decades an employee of the Chair and Clinic of Pulmonology, Allergology and Pulmonary Oncology of the Karol Marcinkowski Medical University in Poznan.

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Amb.
Przemysław Häuser-Schöneich

Ambassador of the Order of Malta to Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada. Special Envoy of the Order of Malta to Indonesia.

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