Pope Francis prays for families going hungry amid pandemic

April 23, 2020 CNA Daily News News Briefs 2 Print

Vatican City, Apr 23, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis asked people to pray on Thursday for families who are struggling to put food on the table during the coronavirus pandemic.

“In many places, one of the effects of this pandemic is that many families find themselves in need, and they are hungry,” Pope Francis said April 23 during the broadcast of his morning Mass.

“Let us pray for these families, for their dignity,” he added.

The pope said that the poor are suffering from “another pandemic”: the economic consequences of layoffs and furloughs. He said that the poor also suffer from the exploitation of unscrupulous money-lenders, and prayed for their conversion.

The coronavirus pandemic threatens food security in many parts of the world. David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), based in Rome, said April 21 that the world was already facing “the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II” in 2020 before the pandemic.

“So today, with COVID-19, I want to stress that we are not only facing a global health pandemic but also a global humanitarian catastrophe,” he told the UN Security Council via videolink. “If we don’t prepare and act now — to secure access, avoid funding shortfalls and disruptions to trade — we could be facing multiple famines of biblical proportions within a short few months.”

According to the WFP, 130 million people worldwide are on the edge of starvation during the pandemic.

In his homily in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta, his Vatican residence, Pope Francis reflected on Christ as our intercessor before God.

“We are accustomed to praying to Jesus to give us this grace, that other, to help us, but we are not accustomed to contemplating Jesus who shows the Father the wounds, to Jesus, the intercessor, to Jesus who prays for us,” the pope said.

“Let us think about this a little … For each of us Jesus prays. Jesus is the intercessor. Jesus wanted to bring his wounds with him to show them to the Father. It is the price of our salvation,” he said.

Pope Francis recalled an event in chapter 22 of the Gospel of Luke when Jesus said to Peter at the Last Supper: “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail.”

“This is Peter’s secret,” the pope said. “Jesus’ prayer. Jesus prays for Peter, so that his faith may not fail and he can –  Jesus says – confirm his brothers in faith.”

“And Peter was able to go far, from coward to courageous, with the gift of the Holy Spirit thanks to the prayer of Jesus,” he added.

April 23 is the feast of St. George, Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s namesake. The Vatican celebrates the pope’s “name day” as an official state holiday.

If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

Related Articles

No Picture
News Briefs

Vatican calls attention to growing food crisis from coronavirus

May 16, 2020 CNA Daily News 2

Vatican City, May 16, 2020 / 09:52 am (CNA).- The coronavirus emergency is also causing a food-related crisis, Vatican officials said Saturday, encouraging people to do their small part to help those who are going hungry.

“What happens now with the coronavirus crisis is it is increasing food-related problems,” Fr. Augusto Zampini-Davies said during a livestreamed press conference May 16.

“We know the value of a society is determined by how we treat the poorest, the most vulnerable, so what are we going to do for all these people, who, apart from the health issues, are suffering from hunger or food-related problems?” he asked.

Zampini-Davies is adjunct secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He said the COVID-19 emergency is affecting food availability on many levels of society: for example, children who rely on school lunches are going hungry while schools are closed, and supply chains are being impacted by restrictions on imports and exports.

There are also millions of people who have lost their jobs or are being prevented from working by measures intended to control the health emergency, he noted. And this often means going hungry.

What happens to the millions of people who are helped neither by the market nor by the state, but we are forcing them to stay home? the priest asked. “What happens to these people? We cannot force them to stay at home without any support.”

Responding to a question about Pope Francis’ proposal for a “universal basic wage,” Zampini-Davies said it is “one tool” that has been used in the past to help confront emergency economic situations.

“As a tool, it has its pros and cons,” he said, but “if we want to promote health for everybody, we need to do something.”

“We cannot remain indifferent,” he said. “All the structures of society are being challenged at the moment, so what we are trying to do is to implement the preferential option for the poor, which is a fundamental element and an ethical imperative.”

A food crisis is one of the issues the Vatican’s new COVID-19 Commission is considering how to combat in the wake of the coronavirus.

The commission is under the auspices of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, headed by Cardinal Peter Turkson, and is intended to work for about one year.

Turkson noted May 16 that “COVID-19 started as a healthcare issue; but it has affected drastically the economy, jobs/employment, lifestyles, food security, the primary role of Artificial Intelligence and internet security, politics, governance and policies (nationalistic or open and in solidarity), research and patents.”

“Hardly any aspect of human life and culture is left unscathed by this pandemic.”

The commission is “an organ of the Holy See to occupy itself with the multifaceted COVID-19 pandemic.”

Zampini-Davies said FAO estimates 800 million people around the world were already “chronically hungry.”

“However … there is hope, because this terrible situation can be an opportunity to change,” he said.

He made some suggestions of actions to be taken on the international level, but also highlighted how “ordinary people” can help by reducing food loss and waste, and by changing their diets to include more seasonal food and fewer high polluting products.

He pointed to St. Therese of Lisieux for her example that “every small gesture of care counts” and noted that the pandemic has shown “we do not need as many things as we think. We can do more with less.”

Aloysius John, secretary general of Caritas Internationalis, the largest Catholic global aid network, said: “as the Holy Father told us, at this tragic moment of human history I want the Church to be present through the work of charity and if you do not do it who will do it?”

[…]

1 Comment

1 Trackback / Pingback

  1. Pope Francis prays for families going hungry amid pandemic - Catholic Mass Search

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*