Top Vatican diplomat says decline of the West not irreversible
- Apr 14, 2021
During his Easter message on Sunday, Pope Francis said it was “scandalous” that despite the pandemic still spreading, causing a severe social and economic crisis, armed conflicts are still ongoing and military arsenals are being strengthened.
Pope Francis on Easter morning offered words of consolation to all those still struggling as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and urged pharmaceutical companies to speed up the production of COVID-19 vaccines amid global delays.
As both the United States and Europe face resurgences of the coronavirus pandemic and are moving towards new lockdowns in many places, it’s a good time to look back at the experience of the first wave in the spring and take stock of lessons learned.
For most of my adult life, Italy has been a global exemplar of how not to run a country, struggling to provide even basic public services such as garbage collection or fixing potholes. Now all of a sudden, Italy has become a case study in efficiency and leadership.
If we’re going to moan about the Vatican – and, in many ways, isn’t that the favorite indoor sport of Catholics everywhere? – we also need to acknowledge its strengths, and high on that list has to be its remarkable sense of drama.
On Easter Sunday Pope Francis prayed for all those suffering due to either global conflict or the coronavirus, saying Christ’s resurrection brings both light and hope to the darkness of an oppressed and suffering world.
As he does every year, Pope Francis issued a special blessing on Christmas, offering prayers of peace for migrants and all countries facing violent conflict and asking Christians to do their part in showing God’s love in their daily actions.
Pope Francis on Easter Sunday offered prayers for the hundreds killed and injured in a series of bombings in Sri Lanka earlier that morning, calling the attacks an act of “cruel violence.”