Pope Francis in his Christmas address called for COVID-19 vaccines to be made available to all, “especially for the most vulnerable and needy.”
“Vaccines for everybody, especially for the most vulnerable and needy,” who should be first in line, Francis said on Friday, The Associated Press reported.
He also called the development of COVID-19 vaccines a “light of hope” for the entire world.
“We can’t let closed nationalisms impede us from living as the true human family that we are,” he continued, according to the AP, urging global leaders and organizations to “promote cooperation and not competition.”
Tens of thousands of people normally gather in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City to hear the pope’s blessings for Christmas and his “Urbi et Orbi,” or “to the city and to the world” speech. However, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the pope delivered the message from the Apostolic Palace.
“At this moment in history, marked by the ecological crisis and grave economic and social imbalances only worsened by the coronavirus pandemic, it is all the more important for us to acknowledge one another as brothers and sisters,” Francis said during the speech.
He also prayed that the holiday would inspire individuals to be “generous, supportive and helpful,” including for those facing “the economic effects of the pandemic and women who have suffered domestic violence during these months of lockdown.”
“Every other person is my brother or my sister,” Francis said. “In everyone, I see reflected the face of God, and in those who suffer, I see the Lord pleading for my help.”