Pope Francis calls to guarantee Covid-19 vaccines for all

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25 December 2020

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Vatican City, Dec 25 (Prensa Latina) Pope Francis today urged the heads of states, companies and international organizations to promote cooperation and not competition, to guarantee vaccines against Covid-19 for all.

In his message 'Urbi et Orbe' (from the city to the world) on occasion of Christmas, the Supreme Pontiff pointed out that in this time of darkness and uncertainty, several lights of hope appear about the pandemic, such as the discovery of vaccines.

However, he said, for those lights to illuminate and bring hope to the entire world, they must be available to all. We cannot allow closed nationalisms to prevent us from living as the true human family that we are.

Nor can we let the virus of radical individualism win us over and make us indifferent to the suffering of other brothers and sisters. I cannot put myself before others, putting the laws of the market and patents of invention before the laws of love and the health of humanity, he pointed out.

Francisco stressed that 'I ask everyone, head of States, companies, international organizations, to promote cooperation and not competition, and seek a solution for everyone: vaccines for everyone, especially for the most vulnerable and needy in all regions of the planet'.

He also asked 'that the Child of Bethlehem help us, then, to be available, (be) generous and supportive', especially with regard to the most fragile people, the sick and those who were unemployed or are in serious difficulties due to the economic consequences of the pandemic.

In this sense, he also referred to women, 'who in these months of confinement have suffered domestic violence' and warned that faced with a challenge that knows no borders, no barriers can be erected.

He then advocated for peace in countries in the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean, Africa, Europe and Asia, such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon and Ethiopia, as well as for the peaceful resolution of conflicts between Israelis. and Palestinians, in Nagorno-Karabakh and eastern regions of Ukraine.

The pontiff also invoked 'the Eternal Word of the Father' as a source of hope for the American continent 'particularly affected by the coronavirus, which exacerbated the multiple sufferings that oppress it, often aggravated by the consequences of corruption and drug trafficking'.

In this context, he pleaded 'to help overcome the recent social tensions in Chile and put an end to the suffering of the Venezuelan people,' while asking God for protection for the population of the Philippines and Vietnam affected by storms and floods, and hope for the people of Rohingya, in Myanmar.