“We are one humanity,” Pope Francis said Sun day in a video message to mark the feast of Pentecost, a Christian holiday commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and
other followers of Christ. On that first day of the Pentecost, according to the Biblical account, there was a “mighty rushing wind” and “tongues as of fire” as the Spirit descended on some 120 followers, including the Apostles and Mary and
other female disciples.
It was the fulfillment, the apostle Peter said, of the prophecy: “And in the last day, God says, ‘I will pour my spirit upon every sort of flesh, and your sons
and your daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams.”
Pope Francis used the occasion to call for a “more just and equitable society”
in the post-coronavirus world, and for people to act to “end the pandemic of poverty.” He said: “ All of the suffering will be of no use if we do not build together a more just, more equitable, more Christian society, not in name but in reality.”
In many countries of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic is now at its
deadliest. They have never had sufficient health programs for ordinary
diseases, and here is a new one for which there is no known cure. In the
world’s most economically advanced nation, the United States, over 100,000 have now been killed by this disease after its initial spread in China, then Europe. Now it is spreading fast in Asia and in South America.
On top of the medical disaster, all nations are now facing huge economic losses as business and industry grind to a halt. People find themselves struggling just to survive and the usual institutions are unable to provide support.
Uppermost in the minds of each nation, each organization, and each person today are plans for recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In his Pentecost
message, Pope Francis asked that in the coming rehabilitation efforts, the world’s leaders also devote some thoughts and some efforts to the old
and continuing problems of injustice, of inequality, and of poverty.
