Opieka duszpasterska w szpitalach publicznych państw Unii Europejskiej – zarys problematyki
Religious assistance in public hospitals in the states of the European Union – an overview

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to provide a general characterization of the solutions used in the states of the European Union to guarantee free access to religious assistance in public hospitals. The first part presents the justification for such assistance. The organization of hospital chaplaincy and the status of hospital chaplains are discussed respectively in part 2 and 3. The paper concludes with a discussion of the problems connected with the need to protect the negative religious freedom of patients.The analysis leads to a conclusion that ensuring the right of every patient to religious assistance constitutes a recognized European standard, independently of the adopted model of state-church relations. However, the detailed guarantees of this right differ from state to state. The diversification characterizes both the organization of hospital chaplaincy and the status of chaplains. The relevant solutions are dependent on such circumstances as the religious structure of the society, established traditions, applied model of state-church relations and diversification of forms of regulating the legal situation of religious organizations. Among the problems which still need to be solved in a satisfactory way in a considerable number of European states one can mention the question of full protection of rights of religious minorities and persons without religious affiliation. However, the prospective guarantees of such protection should be fairly balanced with protecting the rights of believers belonging to sociologically dominant religions.

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