By Verghese V Joseph –
Vatican: Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, Prefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Integral Human Development Service, while expressing concern over the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) across the world, encouraged secular and Catholic national and international health organizations to offer the necessary assistance to people and spare no efforts to find a solution to the new epidemic.
In a message addressed to the presidents of the Episcopal Conferences, Bishops in charge of the pastoral care of health, social-health and pastoral workers, civil authorities, the sick and their families, Volunteers and to all the people of good will, Cardinal Turkson said, “We are experiencing days of strong and growing concern, days in which the human fragility is undermined worldwide by the spread of Coronavirus. The Dicastery for the Integral Human Development Service wishes to join the voice of the Holy Father, thus renewing the closeness of the Church to all those who suffer from the contagion of COVID-19.
The spread of the virus is impacting the global economy, entrepreneurship, work, travel, tourism, sport and even worship, and its contagion is also significantly limiting the freedom of space and movement.
The Vatican on Tuesday, in coordination with the measures launched by the Italian authorities, extended some further measures to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.
The Piazza and the Basilica of San Pietro remain closed to guided visits and tourists.
Annona’s pharmacy and supermarket remain open, but with quota entrances.
Also, as a precaution, the mobile unit of the Vatican Post in St. Peter’s Square, the two stores of the Vatican Publishing House, the Photo Service of L’Osservatore Romano , which will still remain accessible online, and the warehouse of clothing.
The cafeteria for employees will be closed to the public from tomorrow, 11 March, when a meal delivery service will be activated at the request of the various entities and entities of the Holy See and the Vatican City State.
These measures will remain in force, unless otherwise indicated, until April 3, 2020.
In a statement issued today Cardinal Turkson shared the Holy Father’s solidarity with the most affected countries, by donating medical and health products and financial aid. “We hope that everyone can continue in this support work, since in the face of such an emergency many nations, especially those with weak health systems, will find themselves overwhelmed by the effects of the virus, and perhaps they will not be able to meet the demands of care and proximity to their nations. We hope that this moment of great need will be a good time to strengthen solidarity and closeness between States, friendship between people. This is the time to promote international solidarity in sharing tools and resources,” he added.
Cardinal felt that, “Of course, this incidence of the virus, like any emergency situation, highlights the serious inequalities that characterize our socio-economic systems. They are inequalities in economic resources, in the use of health services, as well as in qualified personnel and scientific research. Faced with this range of inequalities, the human family is challenged to feel and truly live as an interconnected and interdependent family. The incidence of Coronavirus has demonstrated this global relevance, having initially hit only one country and then spread to every part of the globe.”
He also urged each person, believer or non-believer, that this was a good time to understand the value of brotherhood. “The value of solidarity also needs to be embodied. We think of the neighbour, the office colleague, the school friend, but above all the doctors and nurses who risk contamination and infection to save the infected. These operators live and show us the meaning of the mystery of Easter: donation and service,” he added.
Already Pope Francis, in his Message on Lent 2020, urged the faithful to contemplate with a renewed heart the mystery of Easter, the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection , and to freely and generously welcome his self-giving: his suffering to death as a gift of love for humanity.
The embrace of the suffering of Jesus, Pope Francis said, becomes the embrace of all the suffering of the world, including all those who are affected by COVID-19. They are today the expression of Christ who suffers, and in the same way as the badly happened in the parable of the Good Samaritan, they require concrete gestures of proximity from humanity. People who suffer, both for contagion and for anything else, constitute a “laboratory of mercy”, in fact the polyhedricity of suffering requires different forms of mercy and care.
“At this Lenten journey, for many lacking some community liturgical signs such as the celebration of the Eucharist, we are called to an even more deeply rooted path on what sustains the spiritual life: prayer, fasting and charity. The effort made to contain the spread of Coronavirus is accompanied by the commitment of each individual faithful for the greatest good: the reconquest of life, the defeat of fear, the triumph of hope,” Cardinal Turkson stated.
He also called upon the political and economic authorities not to neglect social justice and support for the economy and research, now that the virus is unfortunately creating a new “economic crisis”. “We will continue in all ways to support the efforts of health workers and medical-health structures in the various parts of the world, especially in the most remote and most difficult parts, also trusting in the active solidarity of all. We ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate the efforts of scientists, health workers and rulers and we entrust all the populations affected by the contagion to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of humanity,” he prayed.