Speaking on Sunday at his weekly blessing in Rome, Pope Francis seconded a call by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for an end to global conflict so all resources can be refocused on fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is time to put armed conflict on lock-down and focus together on the true fight of our lives,” Guterres had said during a digital news conference. “The virus does not care about nationality or ethnicity, faction or faith. It attacks all, relentlessly. Meanwhile, armed conflict rages on around the world.”
Francis supported Guterres’ plea by urging everyone to “stop every form of bellicose hostility and to favour the creation of corridors for humanitarian help, diplomatic efforts and attention to those who find themselves in situations of great vulnerability.”
Of course, this well-meaning if naive plea will fall on deaf ears. It would have been more useful if the Pope had not spent years preaching the open-borders globalism that helped spread the coronavirus.