Vaccines against Covid-19: the Pope asked for the temporary suspension of patents and condemned the “virus of individualism”

ROMA.- The dad Francisco Not only has he again called for vaccines for everyone, especially the most vulnerable, as he has repeatedly done, but, in support of US President Joe Biden’s proposal, which is debating the world it called for the “temporary suspension of intellectual property rights” of anti-coronavirus drugs.

In a video message he sent to participants of the “Vax Live: The concert to bring the world together ”, charity concert organized by Global Citizen to support a campaign chaired by the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Dukes of Sussex, for worldwide distribution of vaccines, Francisco reiterated his condemnation of the “virus of individualism”. He also criticized variants of this virus, including the “closed nationalism” which prevents “vaccine internationalism”.

“Another variant consists in passing the laws of the market or intellectual property to the detriment of the laws of love and the health of humanity,” he denounced. Another variation is when we believe and encourage a sick economy, which allows a few very rich, a few very rich, to own more than all the rest of humanity, and that production and consumption models are destroying the planet, our “common home” ”.

In the video message, the 84-year-old ex-Archbishop of Buenos Aires once again showed his harmony with young people, as well as his sense of humor in Buenos Aires. In fact, speaking in Spanish, he began: “Dear young people by their age and spirit: receive a cordial greeting from this old man, who neither dances nor sings like you, but who believes with you that injustice and evil are not invincible ”.

As on other occasions, the Pope recalled that everything is interconnected: “any social injustice, any marginalization of some in poverty or misery also affects the environment” because “nature and the person are united”. And he called to get out of “our individualisms and promote the common good”, in a “spirit of justice that mobilizes us to ensure universal access to the vaccine and the temporary suspension of intellectual property rights; a spirit of communion which allows us to generate a different, more inclusive, just and sustainable economic model ”.

“Obviously, we are going through a crisis. The pandemic has put us all in crisis, but remember that we do not come out of a crisis the same way: or we come out better or worse ”, also warned. “The problem is having the inventive spirit to find ways that are better,” he added.

Finally, he pleaded with God, “physician and savior of all, to comfort the suffering and to welcome into his kingdom those who have already left”. “And I also ask this God for us, pilgrims on earth, to grant us the gift of a new fraternity, of a universal solidarity, so that we can recognize the good and the beauty that he has sown in each one of them. us, to strengthen the bonds of unity, common projects, shared hopes. Thank you for your efforts, thank you for everything you are going to do. And I ask you, please, not to forget to pray for me. Thank you, ”he concluded.