The first part of this paper attempts to expose hospital-care situations vis-à-vis ethical principles and pastoral care. In other words, actual scenarios are subjected to the three ethico-pastoral angles of the current pandemic, namely: (a) the crucial process of consultation and decision-making on account of the scarcity of treatment and facility; (b) the role (or non-role) of a religious minister to persons in periculo mortis, albeit when the seeming cause of death is highly contagious as COVID-19; and (c) the search to discover for the formula to prevent and cure this treacherous disease. The second part is a narrative of the ways that the institutional Church of Palawan (Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa) has responded to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19 • Bioethics • Death • Dying • Informed Consent • Moral Discernment • Clinical-Pastoral Care • Vaccine and Cure • Pastoral Leadership • Social Action Apostolatenan