Similarly, as treatments for the coronavirus become more widely available, society should prioritise those who have the greatest need, rather than those who have the most money, the Pope insisted. “How sad it would be if, for the Covid-19 vaccine, priority were to be given to the richest.”
Pope Francis also warned against the “scandal” of directing economic assistance during the pandemic primarily to “industries that do not contribute to the inclusion of the excluded, the promotion of the least, the common good, or the care of creation” – which he proposed as four criteria for determining which industries should be helped.
Changing the world
Looking ahead, Pope Francis said, “if the virus were to intensify again in a world that is unjust to the poor and vulnerable, then we must change the world.”
Pointing to the example of Jesus, “the doctor of integrated divine love,” the Holy Father said, “we must act now, to heal the epidemics caused by the small, invisible viruses, and to heal those caused by the serious and visible social injustices.”
Pope Francis proposed to accomplish this “by starting from the love of God, placing the peripheries at the centre and those who are least in first place.”
