The Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development underlines the commitment in favour of “local Churches to save lives and help the poorest”. Five working groups have been created to face the crisis and look toward the future.
By Massimiliano Menichetti
Around the world, the Church is at the forefront in dealing with the consequences of the coronavirus. Short and long-term projections regarding health care, as well as economic and social necessities, are needed. While vaccines and treatments to eradicate COVID-19 continue to be tested, the forecasts of the International Monetary Fund for 2020 speak of a 3% drop in the global gross domestic product. The decline would be worse than the “Great Depression” of the 1930s. In this context, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, stresses that “one crisis risks being followed by others, in a cycle in which we will be forced to learn slowly and…