Pastoral care and the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick

Pastoral care and the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick
"135. Pastoral care....is a fundamental right of the sick person and a duty of the Church (cf., Mt 10:8, Lk 9:2).  Not to provide it, to make it optional, not to promote it, or to obstruct it is to violate this right....every health care worker is bound to create conditions so that religious assistance is secured for whoever asks for it, whether expressly or implicitly.[254]...."

"136. Religious assistance includes the assignment or allotment of appropriate and dignified spaces for it within health care facilities, and of suitable means by which to provide it.  The health care worker must show complete willingness to encourage and welcome the sick person's request for religious assistance.  Where this assistance cannot be offered by the pastoral worker..., it must be offered directly by the health care worker, within possible and allowable limits, with respect to the freedom and religious faith of the patient and in the awareness that performing this task is not a deviation from the duties of health care assistance properly speaking."


"137....pastoral care of the sick has a special place in catechesis, in liturgy, and in charitable work...."

"138. In the pastoral care of the sick, God's love, which is full of truth and grace, is brought close by a special sacrament: the Anointing of the Sick.257...."

"139. Priests (bishops and presbyters) are the proper ministers of the Anointing of the Sick, [Refers to 1516,  1521, and 1522 of the Catechism.] who see to it that the sacrament is conferred on the faithful whose state of health is seriously threatened by old age or by grave illness or who are about to undergo major surgery.[Refers to 1514, 1515, 1521, and 1522 of the Catechism.].
Communal celebrations [may be helpful]....
The sacrament may be repeated...
may be conferred on [the elderly]....
[may be conferred on children if mature enough to be comforted, as well as
on the unconscious, those with limited faculties, and those whose death is not certain - if they would have requested it.]"