Rome Catholic conference fights mental health isolation via human dignity. Experts share global testimonies on suicide, resilience.
Newsroom (07/11/2025, Gaudium Press ) In a world where mental illness claims more lives each year, the Catholic Church is positioning human dignity—rooted in Christ—as the ultimate counterforce to the isolation driving suicide and despair. This was the resounding message from the Ministry of Hope Catholic Conference on Mental Wellbeing, now in its second year in Rome and concluding its third and final day of sessions.
Held under the shadow of St. Peter’s Basilica, the conference gathered clergy, medical professionals, researchers, and survivors from every continent to confront what organizers call “the challenge of our time”: mental health crises fueled by individualism, secularism, and cultural silence.
Global Voices of Suffering and Resilience
Day two opened with raw testimonies of “suffering and resilience worldwide—from humanitarian crises and poverty-driven hardship to isolation and social change in relatively stable settings,” as described in the official program.
Deacon Ed Shoener, a key organizer from the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, spoke candidly to Vatican News about the conference’s origins. Having lost his 29-year-old daughter Katie to suicide in 2016, Shoener co-founded the U.S.-based Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers. “This conference emerged to gather diverse voices from across the globe in different circumstances and how they’re addressing and dealing with the challenge of our time, which is mental health, mental illness, suicidality,” he said.
Sweden’s Secular Crisis: A Case Study in Isolation
One of the most stark presentations came from Samuelle Falk, a Catholic wife, mother, and medical doctor specializing in psychiatry and autism genomics. Working with Respekt, a pro-life organization in the Diocese of Stockholm, Falk laid bare the mental health toll of Sweden’s hyper-individualistic culture.
“One third of all the causes of death between young people aged 15–29 was due to suicide,” she told the assembly, citing national statistics. Sweden, one of the most secular nations on earth, recorded single-person households without children as the most common living arrangement in 2023.
Falk described a society that instills self-sufficiency from childhood: “You have to be self-sufficient, you have to be independent, you have to make it out there, and they instill that in us from a young age.” She called this messaging “a lie” that leaves individuals spiritually and emotionally adrift.
Yet amid the gloom, Falk offered hope. She pointed to the emergence of what Swedish media dubbed the “Pope Francis effect”—a surprising wave of young people discovering faith and community through the Church, even in a secular stronghold. The Diocese of Stockholm has made affirming human dignity in Christ a core mission, particularly for youth.
A Bishop’s Personal Mission
Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix, Arizona, brought a deeply personal perspective. Having lost three siblings and a brother-in-law to suicide, he has made mental health ministry a cornerstone of his episcopal work.
“The Church was there,” he recalled of his family’s darkest moments. “They didn’t have all of the psychological answers, nor should they have, but they were there with love.”
Dolan urged the Church to lean into Pope Francis’ 2024 declaration Dignitas Infinita, which outlines four dimensions of human dignity: ontological (inherent from conception), moral (lived through virtue), social (recognized in community), and existential (experienced in daily life).
It is the existential level, Dolan argued, where today’s youth most need affirmation. “They are needing to hear that they are valued just as they are, that they don’t need to be the best that they can possibly be,” he said. “Their worth is not based on what they do, but who they are.”
He warned that cultural pressures—academic, social, and digital—tie identity to performance, leaving young people vulnerable when they fall short.
Youth: Not Just the Future, But the Church Now
As the conference moved into its final day, workshops focused on practical pastoral approaches: training parish teams, accompanying families after suicide, and integrating mental health support into youth ministry.
Both Falk and Dolan emphasized that young people must be central to this mission. “They are not just the future of the Church; they are the Church,” Bishop Dolan declared. “But we have to help them on their track to the future.”
Falk shared that simply beginning conversations about mental health—breaking the stigma—is transformative. “Talking about it is the first step to being present to those who need support,” she said.
A Movement Guided by the Holy Spirit
Deacon Shoener reflected on the conference’s rapid growth. The inaugural event in 2024 was the first of its kind in Rome. One year later, mental health ministries have sprouted in parishes, dioceses, and even national bishops’ conferences worldwide.
“We’re seeing bishops, the leaders of various Dicasteries, even the Pope speak about this issue,” Shoener said. Pope Francis has repeatedly called for the Church to accompany those suffering from mental illness, most recently in Dignitas Infinita and his messages to healthcare workers.
A common thread in every testimony, Shoener noted, was “a need for Christ to be present as we face these mental health challenges.”
“Now is the time,” he urged. “It’s the work of the Holy Spirit that is bringing this into the life of the Church.”
As delegates departed Rome, they carried not just strategies and resources, but a renewed conviction: In a world that measures worth by productivity and independence, the Gospel proclaims a radically different truth—that every person bears infinite dignity, not because of what they achieve, but because they are loved by God.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican News
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