VATICAN - Card. Tagle for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation: The "pandemic of love and solidarity"

Monday, 31 August 2020 caritas coronavirus pandemic solidarity

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Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - "As followers of Christ, we share the role of guardians of God's creation and our well-being is linked to the well-being of Mother Earth": this is what Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, President of Caritas Internationalis (CI), and Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples says in the note sent to Agenzia Fides, on the occasion of World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on September 1st. The event, wanted by Pope Francis, represents an important occasion to celebrate the richness of the Christian faith which is also expressed in the safeguarding of the "Common Home". As the virus spreads in our globalized world, Caritas Internationalis continues to spread what
the Cardinal defined the "pandemic of love and solidarity".
"In these months in which our globalized world has been severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have become aware of our common human nature and how interconnected the political, economic, social, spiritual and cultural dimensions are", continues the document sent to Fides. "We realized how unjust social systems have created a fertile ground for the spread of diseases, how fragile our lives are and how vulnerable we were even before the spread of this virus. But the pandemic in progress also represents an opportunity for us to bring out a new form of solidarity, so as to make a common front in order to protect our lives".
As Pope Francis recalled during his catechesis on August 26, the Cardinal observes, "this House was given by God to the whole human race and as guardians of creation, we are called to ensure that its fruits are effectively shared by all".
The reality that Caritas observes every day, carrying out its work alongside local communities all over the world, is far from this: "Local communities are the first victims of the failure to safeguard creation and for this reason today they are asking us for targeted and immediate, especially as regards to food security, access to water and the protection of the ecosystem", reads the note.
Caritas Internationalis believes that "integral human development can only be promoted if life is protected and the sustainability of ecological, economic, social and political systems guaranteed; if the unique capabilities of the human being in terms of knowledge, will, freedom and responsibility are recognized". Furthermore, CI argues that the post-COVID-19 recovery will have to implement new ways of living, just and sustainable, taking into account the close interconnection between respect for the earth and the ecological, economic, social and political way of life. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 31/8/2020)