[ad_1]
Pope Francis, in his post-Angelus greetings, once again invites the faithful to take better care of others. His thoughts on the sick and those who, due to confinement, are experiencing economic difficulties, oppression and exploitation.
Francesca Sabatinelli – Vatican City
As Christians, we “shun the fatalistic or magical mindset” to give ourselves over to the care of others. This is the request for the year that has just begun that Pope Francis, in the post-Angelus greeting, return to the faithful, as he did in the homily on January 1 for the Solemnity of Mary Most Holy Mother of God:
We know that things will get better as, with God’s help, we work together for the common good, focusing on the weakest and most disadvantaged. We don’t know what 2021 brings us, but what each and every one of us can do together is commit a little more to take care of others and of creation, our common home.
Sadness for those who only thought about vacations
There is a risk, according to the Pope’s warning, of the “temptation to take care only of one’s own interests, to continue waging war – for example – to focus only on the economic profile, to live hedonistically, that is, trying only to satisfy the pleasure”:
I read something in the newspapers that made me quite sad: in one country, I don’t remember which, to escape from confinement and have a good vacation, more than 40 planes left that afternoon. But those people, who are good people, but have not thought about those who stayed at home, about the economic problems of so many people that the confinement has thrown to the ground, about the sick? Just take a vacation and make your own pleasure. This hurt a lot.
The closeness to those who start the year suffering
Francisco’s greeting, therefore, is addressed as a conclusion to “those who start the new year with greater difficulties: the sick, the unemployed, those who live in situations of oppression or exploitation.” Finally, I greet the families, “especially those in which there are small children or who are expecting childbirth. A birth is always a promise of hope: I am close to these families ”.
