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Pope Francis announced in his New Year’s message that 2021 “will be a good year” if people take care of each other and stressed that in addition to a vaccine against the new coronavirus, humanity needs “a vaccine for the soul.”
“It doesn’t matter how many people we know, if we can’t take care of them. This year, while we wait for a recovery and new treatments, let’s not forget to take care of others. Because, in addition to a body vaccine, we need” A vaccine for the soul, which means take care of others. It will be a good year if we take care of each other, as the Virgin Mary takes care of us, “the Pope said.
These words of Pope Francis were read in the homily officiated by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, during the New Year’s liturgy dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which the Vatican celebrates every year on January 1.
Pope Francis was going to officiate this service, as well as the one on Thursday, December 31, but a sciatica crisis prevented him from attending both liturgies.
As he did the day before, Pope Francis left the homily in writing so that Cardinal Parolin could read on New Year’s Friday in front of a small number of participants and representatives of the media, present in small numbers in the Basilica of St. Basil. Peter to avoid infection with the new coronavirus.
Service in the absence of believers
This service, like the rest of the liturgies celebrated during the Vatican festivals, took place in the absence of the faithful.
The Catholic Church has made New Year’s Day a celebration dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the purest mother, which was originally called the Feast of the Blessing of the Mother of God.
The Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus on Christmas Day and Christians came to congratulate Mary, the mother of God, on the first day of the New Year.
In 1968, Pope Paul VI declared January 1 as the World Day of Peace, in which Christians pray for the end of conflicts between peoples.
“Today, the first day of the year, the wish I make for you is what God himself puts on our lips. May the Lord bless you and keep you … May he turn his face towards you, grant you peace. “, transmitted the Pope to the believers of the whole world.
