Does offering it up mean refusing pain relief?
No. Offering it up means uniting suffering you already have with Christ's. It gives meaning to something that would otherwise have none. It is a way of reading suffering, not an order to go looking for more of it.
The Vatican's 1980 declaration on euthanasia notes that some Christians choose to hold back on painkillers. Then it draws the line: "it would be imprudent to impose a heroic way of acting as a general rule. On the contrary, human and Christian prudence suggest for the majority of sick people the use of medicines capable of alleviating or suppressing pain."
It goes further for patients who cannot speak. One may reasonably presume that they wish to take painkillers, and to have them given as the doctor advises.
John Paul II said the same in 1995. Praise may be due to a person who gives up painkillers to stay clear-headed. But "such 'heroic' behaviour cannot be considered the duty of everyone."
The seventh edition of the US bishops' directives was approved in November 2025. It added a phrase about how spiritual support should be offered: "while not valorizing pain and suffering."
Sources
Want the full picture? Read our complete explanation: Catholic Teaching on Suffering and Cancer
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