(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 14 - Pope Francis on Saturday blasted the "marginalization" of the sick during an audience with the Italian Association against Leukaemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma (AIL).
    "Illness often plunges the person and their family into the darkness of pain and anguish, giving rise to solitude and closure," the Argentine pontiff said.
    "At the social level, it is often perceived as a defeat, something to conceal, eliminate; the sick are rejected in the name of efficiency and strength, suffering is marginalized because it causes fear and hinders plans.
    "Instead, it is urgent to place the sick person with his or her history and relationships - family, friendship, and therapeutic ones - in order to find meaning in pain and give answers to the many 'whys'.
    "Even when all seems lost, it is possible to hope. But it takes someone to bring a little light, a flame of hope, with friendship, closeness and listening". (ANSA).