The Pope asked for “vaccines for all” and he renegotiated …

Pope Francis reaffirmed in a letter addressed to the participants of the XXVII Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government that extensive immunization against Covid-19 must be considered a “universal common good”.

Jorge Bergoglio called for more solidarity between countries to ensure a fair distribution of vaccines against Covid-19, “not on the basis of purely economic criteria, but taking into account the needs of all, especially the most vulnerable”. At the same time, he called for the renegotiation of the debt of the “poorest countries”.

The letter was sent to Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis, head of the Ibero-American General Secretariat, and includes a greeting to all participants in the Summit taking place in Andorra. The meeting was scheduled to take place in 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic.

“The pandemic made no distinction and struck people of all cultures, beliefs, social and economic strata,” the Pope noted, while indicating that “we all know and have felt the loss of a loved one died of the coronavirus, or suffered the effects of the contagion. “

In another passage, Francisco praised “the hard work of the doctors, nurses, health personnel, chaplains and volunteers who, in these difficult times, in addition to treating the sick, risking their lives, were for them the family. and the friend who was missing ”.

He also claimed that< les initiatives visant à créer de nouvelles formes de solidarité au niveau international sont >> particularly welcome, with mechanisms aimed at guaranteeing an equitable distribution of vaccines, not based on purely economic criteria, but taking into account the needs of all, especially those of the most vulnerable and the most deprived. ”

Likewise, the Pope underlined: “We must emerge better from this pandemic”.

Francisco and the debt

On the debt burden, Bergoglio called for “renegotiating the debt burden” for “the poorest countries” and called for “strong political will” to “change things” globally.

“Particular attention should be paid to the need to reform the architecture of international debt, as an integral part of our common response to the pandemic,” the Pope said in the letter.

“The renegotiation of the debt burden of the most needy countries is a gesture that will help people to develop, to have access to vaccines, to health, to education and to employment,” he said in a passage. He stressed that “such a gesture must be accompanied by the implementation of sound economic policies and good administration which affects the poorest”.

Francisco, who met Argentinian Minister of the Economy Martín Guzmán a week ago in Rome, underlined “the urgency of taking measures allowing access to external financing, through a new issue of special drawing rights. , calling for greater solidarity between countries ”. .

This initiative, for the Pope, must consider “that the funds are intended to promote and encourage economic and productive development, so that everyone can get out of the current situation with the best chances of recovery”.

“None of this will be possible without a strong political will that has the courage to decide to change things, mainly the priorities, so that it is not the poor who pay the most of these tragedies which strike our human family” , said the head of the Catholic Church.