Pope Francis gives his general public address in the library of the Apostolic Palace on August 19. Credit: Vatican Media
August 19, 2020
Catholic News Agency
VATICAN CITY – A potential coronavirus vaccine should be made available to all, Pope Francis told the general public on Wednesday.
“It would be sad if for the vaccine for COVID-19 priority would be given to the richest! “It would be sad if this vaccine became the property of this nation as a whole, instead of universal and for everything,” said Pope Francis on Aug. 19.
The pope’s remarks followed a warning by the head of the World Health Organization on Tuesday that some countries could keep faxes.
Speaking in Geneva on August 18, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on world leaders to prevent what he called “fax nationalism.”
In his address, the pope also said that it would be a ‘scandal’ if public money was used to fire industry’s that do not contribute to the uptake of the excluded, the promotion of the worst, the general good, or the care for creation. “
He said governments should only help companies that meet all four criteria.
The pope is speaking in the library of the Apostolic Palace, where he has held his general public since the coronavirus pandemic struck Italy in March.
His reflection was the third installment in a new series of catechetical talks on Catholic social doctrine, which he began earlier this month.
Introducing the new cycle of catechism August 5, the pope said, “In the coming weeks, I invite you to tackle the pressing issues that have marked the pandemic, especially social ills.”
‘And we will do it in the light of the Gospel, the theological virtues, and the principles of the social doctrine of the Church. Together we will explore how our Catholic social tradition can help the human family to heal this world suffering from serious illnesses. ”
In his address Wednesday, Pope Francis pointed to the pandemic, which claimed the lives of more than 781,000 people worldwide on August 19, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
The pope called for a two-way response to the virus.
“On the one hand, it is essential to find a cure for this small but terrible virus, which has brought the whole world to its knees. On the other hand, we must also cure a bigger virus, that of social injustice, inequality. of opportunity, marginalization, and the lack of protection for the weakest, “the pope said, according to an unofficial working translation provided by the Holy Office press office.
“In this double response to healing, there is a choice that, according to the Gospel, cannot be missed: the preferential option for the poor. And this is not a political option; nor is it an ideological option, a party option … no. The preferred option for the poor is at the center of the Gospel. And the first to do this was Jesus. ‘
The pope quoted a passage from the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, read before his address, which said that Jesus “became poor, though he was rich, so that you might be made rich by his poverty” (2 Corinthians 8: 9). ).
“Since He was rich, He made Himself poor to enrich us. He made Himself one of us and for this reason, at the center of the Gospel, there is this option, at the center of Jesus ‘preaching,’ said the pope.
In a similar way, he noted, the followers of Jesus are known by their closeness to the poor.
Referring to the 1987 encyclopedic Sollicitudo rei socialis from St John Paul II, he said: “Some people mistakenly think that this preferential love for the poor is a task for a few, but in reality it is the mission of the Church as a whole, as St. John John II said. “
Service of the poor should not be limited to material assistance, he explained.
‘It means walking together, evangelizing ourselves through those who know the suffering Christ well, letting ourselves be’ infected ‘by their experience of salvation, by their wisdom and by their creativity. Sharing with the poor means mutual enrichment. And, if there are unusual social structures that prevent them from dreaming of the future, we must work together to heal them, to change them.
The pope noted that many people were looking to return to normalcy after the coronavirus crisis.
“Sure, but this ‘normality’ should not include social injustice and the degradation of the environment,” he said.
“The pandemic is a crisis, and we are not coming out of a crisis the same as before: either we are coming out better, or we are coming out less. We need to get out of it better, in order to combat social injustice and damage to the environment. Today we have the opportunity to build something different. ”
He urged Catholics to help build an ‘economy of the integral development of the poor’, which he defines as ‘an economy where people, and especially the poorest, are at the center’.
This new kind of economy would, “he said,” prevent “remedies that actually poison society,” such as striving for profit without creating decent jobs.
“This kind of profit is disconnected from the real economy, which should bring some benefits to the common people, and moreover is sometimes indifferent to the damage caused to our common home,” he said.
“The preference for the poor, this ethical-social need that comes from the love of God, inspires us to conceive and design an economy where people, and especially the poorest, are at the center.”
To his address, the pope greets Catholics who belong to different language groups that follow via livestream. The audience concluded with the recitation of Our Father and the Apostolic Blessing.
Concluding his reflection, Pope Francis said: ‘If the virus were to intensify again in a world that is not fair to the poor and vulnerable, then we need to change this world. Following the example of Jesus, the doctor of integral divine love, that is, of physical, social, and spiritual healing – as the healing worked by Jesus – we must now act, to heal the epidemics caused by small, invisible viruses, and to heal to be caused by the great and visible social injustice. ”
“I suggest this happens by starting from the love of God, placing the peripheries at the center and the last in the first place.”
