Pope Francis has insisted that treating and saving people is “more important” than saving the economy. “We people are temples of the Holy Spirit, the economy is not.”
He has also spoken today more widely of the sufferings and challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, and urged Catholics to recall love of God and neighbour.
In his message for World Missionary Day, released on Pentecost, Pope Francis says that like the disciples of Jesus, people were taken aback by being caught in “an unexpected and furious storm”.
He says: “We realised that we were on the same boat, all fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and necessary, all called to row together, all in need of comforting each other. We are all on this boat.”
The pope continues: “We are truly frightened, disoriented and afraid. Pain and death make us experience our human frailty; but at the same time we all recognize ourselves as participants in a strong desire for life and freedom from evil.
“In this context, the call to mission, the invitation to leave oneself for love of God and neighbour is presented as an opportunity for sharing, service, intercession. The mission that God entrusts to each one passes from the fearful and closed self to the self found and renewed by the gift of self.”
Understanding what God is telling us in these times of pandemic becomes a challenge also for the mission of the Church, he continues. “Illness, suffering, fear, isolation challenge us. The poverty of those who die alone, of those who are left to themselves, of those who lose their jobs and wages, of those who do not have homes and food question us.
“Obliged to physical distance and to stay at home, we are invited to rediscover that we need social relations, and also the community relationship with God.”
Far from increasing mistrust and indifference, this condition should make us more attentive to our way of relating with the others, he says.
“The impossibility of meeting as a Church to celebrate the Eucharist has made us share the condition of many Christian communities that cannot celebrate Mass every Sunday.”
Speaking also today at St Peter's, where the square is open to pilgrims again, he said the feast of Pentecost renews awareness that “the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit dwells in us.
“He also gives us the courage to come out of the protective walls of our small groups, without resting in the quiet life or locking ourselves in sterile habits.”
After the Regina Caeli, he referred to the Amazon Synod seven months ago, and made a special plea for the suffering peoples there: “We invoke the Holy Spirit to give light and strength to the Church and society in the Amazon, severely tested by the pandemic. Many are infected and deceased, even among indigenous peoples, particularly vulnerable. Through the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Amazon, I pray for the poorest and most defenceless of that dear region, but also for those of the whole world, and I appeal that no one miss health care.
“Treating people, not saving for the economy. Treating people, who are more important than the economy. We people are temples of the Holy Spirit, the economy is not.”
Franciscus