This dissertation aims to examine the problem of suffering and the meaning of life in the contemporary world, starting from an analysis that contextualizes the understanding and the experience of suffering in the present society. We will study the book Homo Patiens, by the viennese psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl, and the Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris by Pope John Paul II, seeking a dialogue between faith and culture, through the common points in the authors thoughts. In the face of contemporary society s proposals to suppress suffering, which often results in an existential emptiness, contempt for the weakest and distancing from God, we will search for more adequate answers about the meaning of suffering, about the value of the human person and about the relation between God and the human suffering.