Pope Francis says the pandemic has brought out "the best and the worst" in people

Pope Francis believes that the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed "the best and the worst" in every person, and that now more than ever it is important to recognize that the crisis can only be overcome by seeking the common good.

"The virus reminds us that the best way to take care of ourselves is to learn to take care of and protect those close to us," Francis said in a video message to a virtual seminar organized by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and from the Vatican Academy for Social Sciences.

The pope said leaders should not "encourage, endorse or use mechanisms" that transform the "serious crisis" into an "electoral or social tool".

"Discrediting the other only succeeds in destroying the possibility of finding agreements that help alleviate the effects of the pandemic in our communities, especially on the most excluded," the pope said.

Those elected by the people to be public employees, added Francis, are called to "be at the service of the common good and not place the common good at the service of their own interests".

"We all know the dynamics of corruption" found in politics, he said, adding that it is also the same for "men and women of the Church. The internal ecclesiastical struggles are a real leprosy that makes the Gospel sick and kills “.

The seminar from 19 to 20 November entitled "Latin America: Church, Pope Francis and the scenarios of the pandemic", was held through Zoom and involved Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Latin America commission; and the observations of Archbishop Miguel Cabrejos, president of CELAM, the Latin American Episcopal Conference; and Alicia Barcena, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Although it has devastated economies around the world, the novel coronavirus has so far been particularly pervasive in Latin America, where health systems were far less prepared than those in most of Europe to deal with the virus, leading several governments to impose extended quarantines. Argentina has the longest in the world, over 240 days, leading to a massive GDP loss.

Pope Francis said at the meeting that now more than ever it is necessary to "regain awareness of our common belonging".

"We know that along with the COVID-19 pandemic, there are other social evils - homelessness, landlessness and lack of jobs - that mark the level and these require generous response and immediate attention," he said.

Francis also noted that many families in the region are going through periods of uncertainty and suffer situations of social injustice.

"This is highlighted by verifying that not everyone has the necessary resources to implement the minimum protection measures against COVID-19: a safe roof where social distances, water and sanitary resources can be respected to sanitize and disinfect environments, stable work that guarantees the 'access to benefits, to name the most essential ones,' he added.

In particular, the president of CELAM referred to various realities that challenge the continent and that highlighted "the consequences of a historical and inhomogeneous structure that shows innumerable vulnerabilities throughout the region".

Cabrejos said that it is necessary "to guarantee quality food and medicine for the population, especially for the most vulnerable populations who are at risk of starvation and do not have the necessary supply of medicinal oxygen".

"The pandemic is affecting and will affect more severely the unemployed, small entrepreneurs and those who work in the popular and solidarity economy, as well as the elderly population, people with disabilities, deprived of liberty, boys and girls and housewives, students and migrants ”, said the Mexican prelate.

Also in attendance was Brazilian climate scientist Carlos Afonso Nobre, who warned of the dangers of reaching a tipping point in the Amazon rainforest: if deforestation didn't end now, the entire region would become a savannah in the next 30 years. He urged for a sustainable development model with a "green agreement", product of a "new circular green economy" in the post-pandemic world.

Barcena praised Pope Francis' leadership in the region and emphasized his definition of populism developed in his recent encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti, in which the Argentine pontiff distinguishes between leaders who actually work for the people and those who claim to promote it. that the people want, but instead focus on promoting their own interests.

"We must do as much as possible with the leadership we have today in Latin America, there is no alternative to this," said Barcena, referring to the need to overcome inequalities in the most unequal region of the world, despite what one of the participants described. as questionable leadership in some of these countries. "Governments cannot do it alone, society cannot do it alone, much less markets can do it alone."

In his video message, Francis acknowledged that the world will continue to "experience the devastating effects of the pandemic for a long time", underlining that the "path of solidarity as justice is the best expression of love and closeness".

Francis also stated that he hopes that the online initiative "inspires paths, awakens processes, creates alliances and promotes all the mechanisms necessary to guarantee a dignified life for our peoples, especially the most excluded, through the experience of fraternity and the construction of social friendship. "

When he speaks of focusing particularly on the excluded, the pope said, he does not mean “to give alms to the most excluded, nor as a gesture of charity, no: as a hermeneutic key. We have to start from there, from every human periphery, if we don't start from there we will be wrong “.

The first pope in history from the southern hemisphere underlined the fact that, despite the "gloomy landscape" that the region faces, Latin Americans "teach us that they are people with a soul who know how to face crises with courage and know how to generate voices . who cries out in the desert to open the way to the Lord “.

"Please, let's not allow ourselves to be robbed of hope!" he exclaimed. “The way of solidarity as well as justice is the best expression of love and closeness. We can get out of this crisis better, and this is what many of our sisters and brothers have witnessed in the daily donation of their lives and in the initiatives that the people of God have generated “.