Pope Francis used his traditional Christmas message to celebrate a scientific breakthrough—the “lights of hope” generated by the COVID-19 vaccines. But he admonished the world’s richer nations, and richer people, not to hoard the vaccines for themselves. “We [cannot] allow the virus of radical individualism to get the better of us and make us indifferent to the suffering of other brothers and sisters. I cannot place myself ahead of others, letting the law of the marketplace and patents take precedence over the law of love and the health of humanity.” Speaking before a few hundred people, as COVID made the normal Christmastime procession of over 10,000 to St. Peter’s Square impossible, Francis called upon “government leaders, businesses, [and] international organizations “to seek a solution for everyone: vaccines for all, especially for the most vulnerable and needy of all regions of the planet. Before all others: the most vulnerable and needy!” The World Health Organization has warned that some poorer nations might not receive vaccine doses until as late as 2024.
Read it at The Vatican
