Father Raimo Goyarrola founded KatSote (The Association of Catholic Professionals in Social and Health Care in Finland) in 2022. Its purpose was to promote and support the professional and spiritual growth of its members and to enhance well-being at work through various initiatives.
KatSote seeks to promote a culture of life and to defend the dignity of every human person from the beginning of life until its natural end. The association is growing, and its activities are active and wide-ranging. We participate in public discussion on issues related to our field and organize webinars, seminars, and retreats that are open to all. We communicate about our activities not only through parishes, social media, and Fides magazine, but also through newspapers, magazines, and their online platforms.
Father Raimo Becomes a Bishop in 2023
To our great joy, our chairman, Father Raimo, was ordained Bishop of Helsinki in the autumn of 2023. As a result, he became the honorary chairman of our association. He continues to follow our activities with interest and encouragement.
The Values of Life
Raimo Goyarrola has emphasized that euthanasia is never necessary. He wrote a book on the subject, Euthanasia, which was published in 2013. The revised book A Dignified Death, published in 2025, also addresses euthanasia, but with a new emphasis on palliative care.
At the same time, questions concerning euthanasia have remained topical in Finnish society and have also been discussed in Parliament. Bishop Raimo has taken a public stand on the issue. For its part, KatSote has been an active advocate for life in accordance with the values promoted by the bishop.
The Public Defense on 5 June 2026
Bishop Raimo continued the doctoral research in medicine and palliative care that he had begun in 2022. At the beginning of 2025, the board of KatSote decided to attend the public defense, and about a year later the date was confirmed.
Thus, on 5 June 2026, five members of the board and several KatSote members from different parts of Finland joined nearly one hundred other attendees in the lecture hall to follow the defense and familiarize themselves with the dissertation.
The public defense, which lasted more than two and a half hours, began at 12:15 p.m. The audience rose as the doctoral candidate, Licentiate of Medicine and Doctor of Theology Raimo Goyarrola, the custos, Professor Reino Pöyhiä of the University of Eastern Finland, and the opponent, Associate Professor Liz Gwyther of the University of Cape Town, entered the hall.
The custos opened the proceedings and briefly introduced the doctoral candidate, the opponent, and the dissertation Spirituality in Palliative Care in Finland. Development of Questionnaires to Assess Spiritual Care.
Lectio Praecursoria
The background to Raimo Goyarrola’s research lay in his family upbringing and in the early death of his mother from cancer. Later, the COVID-19 pandemic brought loneliness and isolation. These experiences inspired reflection and a desire to carry out research with practical value.
Raimo Goyarrola noted that spirituality is not necessarily religion and that even healthcare professionals may find it difficult to distinguish between palliative care and terminal care. These are concepts whose meanings need to be clarified.
The aim of the dissertation was to develop and validate a Finnish medical instrument for identifying the psychological and spiritual needs of patients receiving palliative care and to produce a Finnish-language version of the instrument. Factors related to quality of life were also taken into account.
An important part of the research involved validating instruments that examined healthcare professionals’ perceptions of spiritual care, their attitudes toward end-of-life care, and the relationships between these factors.
Goyarrola expressed the hope that the tools developed through the research would not simply remain on library shelves but would be used in everyday patient care.
Evaluation of the Dissertation
Liz Gwyther proved to be a thorough yet empathetic opponent, and the defense as a whole became a profound and fruitful discussion.
Patients receiving palliative care experience psychological and spiritual suffering. These differ from physical pain and emotional stress. Such suffering is difficult to address, and the subject may be perceived as highly personal.
In addition to relieving physical pain, spiritual care can help patients find meaning and peace in the midst of suffering. It is therefore important to determine whether patients wish to participate in decisions concerning their care and whether they feel that they are being heard.
To be accepted and loved is one of the fundamental needs of every human being. At the end of life, the need for forgiveness becomes especially significant, as does the possibility of being freed from feelings of guilt and shame through asking for forgiveness.
The dissertation developed detailed and clear questionnaires both for patients and for physicians and nurses. These instruments make it possible to assess the needs of both patients and healthcare professionals.
The questionnaires can also be used to determine whether there is a need for a meeting with a priest or another representative of a religious community and to explore, for example, a patient’s relationship with God. Healthcare professionals’ attitudes toward spiritual care and end-of-life care are assessed through instruments related to these factors.
The questionnaires help identify educational needs among healthcare staff and support their professional development. This contributes to high-quality, patient-centred palliative care.
Among the 116 patients studied, safety in care, peace of mind, and participation in healthcare decisions were considered the most important factors, while religious rituals and visits from priests were considered the least important. Significant differences were found between the importance attached to being heard, experiencing peace, maintaining hope, and having the presence of loved ones, and the extent to which these needs were actually fulfilled.
Among both cancer patients (101) and non-cancer palliative patients (89), a separate questionnaire showed that spiritual well-being was positively associated with quality of life. This instrument also makes it possible to assess a person’s relationship with God.
Among healthcare professionals (204 participants), positive attitudes toward end-of-life care were associated with stronger perceptions of spiritual care. Anxiety and support for assisted dying were negatively associated with spiritual care.
The opponent stated that she had learned much about medicine, but above all about humanity. She expressed satisfaction with the research design and the way it had been validated:
“The study is highly structured and convincing.”
She also asked how the research findings could be made more widely known and shared internationally. The doctoral candidate replied that the next step would be to consider practical measures for achieving this goal.
The research has already received extensive public attention in Finland, and numerous interviews have been conducted. The time has now come to apply these tools in practice.
In contrast to the usual protocol of a doctoral defense, many questions were raised by members of the audience, demonstrating both the importance of the topic and the interest it had generated. The protocol was also broken at the conclusion of the event when the audience expressed its appreciation with prolonged applause.
Thanksgiving Mass and Post-Doctoral Reception
After the coffee reception, Bishop Raimo Goyarrola celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving at Saint Joseph’s Church.
Before this, the parish priest, Donbosco Thomas, had made it possible for the group to gather in the parish facilities, where the board of KatSote presented Bishop Raimo’s books A Dignified Death and Human Life in the Womb in connection with the theme of the day, while participants conversed and became better acquainted with one another.
The successful day concluded with a post-doctoral reception hosted by Bishop Raimo for his invited guests. The board of KatSote expresses its gratitude for the invitation to this warm and memorable occasion.
Return to Helsinki
On Saturday morning, the board of KatSote had the opportunity to participate in Mass before beginning the journey home. During the train ride, discussion continued about the dissertation and its significance.
We concluded that the topic had been presented in a sensitive manner and with respect for all parties, while at the same time remaining realistic and convincing. It is our hope that the tools developed through this research will now be put into active use. This would contribute to the well-being of healthcare professionals and help facilitate their daily work.
Furthermore, patients approaching the end of life could experience themselves as valued and loved and find hope and peace during their final days.
We are grateful for the opportunity to participate in this significant event. We also extend our continued prayers and blessings to the parishioners of Kuopio, as Bishop Raimo remained in the city to celebrate the Corpus Christi Mass at Saint Joseph’s Church.
Christel Monni
Photo: Representatives of KatSote together with the bishop: Chairperson Pyry Sipilä, Secretary Christel Monni, Honorary Chair Bishop Raimo Goyarrola, Board Member Meisa Dano, and Treasurer Marja-Liisa Mäkiranta.