Now, while we are looking forward to a slow and arduous recovery from the pandemic, there is a danger that we will forget those who are left behind. The risk is that we may then be struck by an even worse virus, that of selfish indifference. A virus spread by the thought that life is better if it is better for me, and that everything will be fine if it is fine for me.
It begins there and ends up selecting one person over another, discarding the poor, and sacrificing those left behind on the altar of progress.
The present pandemic, however, reminds us that there are no differences or borders between those who suffer. We are all frail, all equal, all precious.
May we be profoundly shaken by what is happening all around us: the time has come to eliminate inequalities, to heal the injustice that is undermining the health of the entire human family!
Let us learn from the early Christian community described in the Acts of the Apostles. It received mercy and lived with mercy: “All who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:44-45).
This is not some ideology: it is Christianity.
Pope Francis
