We can heal the world if we all work together for the common good – Pope Francis at General Audience

by | 9 Sep, 2020 | News

Pope Francis focused his attention on the concept of the “common good” in his catechesis at today’s General Audience.

Continuing his reflections on healing a world that has been experiencing a pandemic, Pope Francis said we can emerge from the coronavirus crisis better than before if we all seek the common good together.

Pope Francis said the Christian response to the pandemic and to the consequent socio-economic crisis is based on love and especially the love of God for us. We in turn are called to love everyone – not only our friends and family, but even our enemies. This is difficult, the Pope acknowledged, but it is an art that can be learned and improved.

Love, he continued, not only helps us to build personal relationships, but also allows social, cultural, economic and relationships flourish, allowing us to construct a ‘civilization of love’.

The Holy Father went on to highlight how the current crisis is helping us to see that the good of each person individually is tied up with the common good of society as a whole, and vice versa. He said, “A virus that does not recognise barriers, borders, or cultural or political distinctions must be faced with a love without barriers, borders or distinctions.”

If, on the other hand, solutions to the crisis are tinged with selfishness or egoism, the Pope said, “we may perhaps emerge from the coronavirus crisis, but certainly not from the human and social crisis that the virus has brought to light and accentuated.” Instead, everyone – and Christians in particular – have a duty to work to promote the common good.

Concluding his catechesis, Pope Francis said now is the time to improve our social love, with everyone’s contribution. The Holy Father insisted that everyone must do their part, with no one excluded. “Thus, through our gestures, even the most humble ones, something of the image of God that we bear with us will be made visible, because God is the Trinity, God is love.” With God’s help we can heal the world if we all work together for the common good.

ENDS 

9 September 2020

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