Pope Francis: Making the coronavirus vaccine available to all

A potential coronavirus vaccine should be made available to all, Pope Francis said in a general audience on Wednesday.

“It would be sad if, for the COVID-19 vaccine, priority was given to the richest! It would be sad if this vaccine became the property of this nation or another, rather than universal and for everyone, ”Pope Francis said on August 19.

The pope's comments followed a warning from the head of the World Health Organization on Tuesday that some countries could stockpile vaccines.

Speaking in Geneva on August 18, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appealed to world leaders to avoid what he called "vaccine nationalism".

In his speech, the pope also said it would be a "scandal" if public money were used to save industries "that do not contribute to the inclusion of the excluded, the promotion of the least, the common good or the care of creation."

He said governments should only help industries that meet all four criteria.

The pope was speaking in the library of the Apostolic Palace, where he has held his general audiences since the coronavirus pandemic hit Italy in March.

His reflection was the third installment in a new series of catechetical talks on Catholic social doctrine, which began earlier this month.

Introducing the new cycle of catechesis on August 5, the Pope said: "In the coming weeks, I invite you to tackle together the urgent issues that the pandemic has brought to light, especially social diseases".

“And we will do it in the light of the Gospel, the theological virtues and the principles of the Church's social doctrine. We will explore together how our Catholic social tradition can help the human family to heal this world that suffers from serious diseases ”.

In his speech on Wednesday, Pope Francis focused on the pandemic, which has claimed the lives of more than 781.000 people worldwide as of August 19, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

The pope asked for a double 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 greater virus, that of social injustice, inequality of opportunity, marginalization and lack of protection for the weakest, "the pope said, according to an unofficial working translation provided from the press office of the Holy See. .

“In this double response for healing there is a choice that, according to the Gospel, cannot be missing: the preferential option for the poor. And this is not a political option; nor is it an ideological option, a party option… no. The preferential option for the poor is at the heart of the Gospel. And the first to do it was Jesus “.

The pope quoted a passage from the Second Letter to the Corinthians, read before his speech, in which it was said that Jesus "made himself poor even though he was rich, so that you might become rich with his poverty" (2 Corinthians 8: 9).

“Because 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 the announcement of Jesus ”, the pope said.

Similarly, he noted, Jesus' followers are known for their closeness to the poor.

Referring to the 1987 encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis of Saint John Paul II, he said: “Some mistakenly think that this preferential love for the poor is a task of a few, but in reality it is the mission of the Church as a whole, like St. . John Paul II said. "

Service to the poor should not be limited to material assistance, he explained.

“In fact, it implies walking together, letting ourselves be evangelized by them, who know the suffering Christ well, letting ourselves be 'infected' by their experience of salvation, their wisdom and their creativity. Sharing with the poor means mutual enrichment. And, if there are unhealthy 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 forward to returning to normal after the coronavirus crisis.

"Of course, but this 'normality' shouldn't include social injustices and environmental degradation," he said.

“The pandemic is a crisis, and a crisis does not come out as before: either you get out better, or you get out worse. We need to get out of it better, to fight social injustice and environmental damage. Today we have the opportunity to build something different “.

He urged Catholics to help build an "economy of integral development of the poor", which he defined as "an economy in which people, and especially the poorest, are at the center".

This new type of economy, he said, would avoid "remedies that actually poison society," such as pursuing profit without creating decent jobs.

"This kind of profit is dissociated from the real economy, the one that is supposed to benefit ordinary people, and also is sometimes indifferent to the damage done to our common home," he said.

"The preferential option for the poor, this ethical-social need that arises from the love of God, inspires us to conceive and plan an economy where people, and especially the poorest, are at the center".

After his speech, the pope greeted Catholics belonging to different language groups they were following in live streaming. The audience concluded with the recitation of the Our Father and the Apostolic Blessing.

Concluding his reflection, Pope Francis said: “If the virus escalates again in a world unfair to the poor and vulnerable, then we must change this world. Following the example of Jesus, the doctor of integral divine love, that is physical, social and spiritual healing - such as the healing performed by Jesus - we must act now, to heal the epidemics caused by small invisible viruses, and to heal those caused from the great and visible social injustices “.

"I propose that this happens starting from the love of God, placing the peripheries in the center and the last ones in the first place"