Pope: A throwaway culture leads to murder, like abortion and euthanasia
Millions of deaths from poor hygiene and health could be avoided each year. We should not “project our priorities onto populations who live on other continents, where other needs are more urgent; where, for example, drinking water and daily bread are in short supply”.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis met in audience a group of participants in the general assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
In his address, the pontiff spoke out against a “throwaway culture” that allows the direct murder of children through abortion and uses stealth euthanasia against the elderly by giving them only half of the medical drugs they need out of financial consideration.
In the same line of thought, Francis called for free medical care for all and slammed a medical system that treats the diseases of the rich but not those that afflict the poor, such as tuberculosis and malaria.
“Children that we do not want to accept are thrown away through an abortion law that sends them back to their maker by directly killing them. Today this has become a 'normal' thing; [but] such a habit is very bad; it is truly murder. In order to truly grasp this, we should perhaps ask ourselves a double question: Is it right to eliminate, to end a human life to solve a problem? Is it right to hire a hitman to solve a problem? That’s abortion.
Likewise, “we have the elderly” who are treated “a bit like 'waste material’ because they are not needed ... Yet they are wisdom, the roots of the wisdom of our civilisation, a civilisation that discards them!
“Indeed, in many places a law of stealth euthanasia, as I call it, exists. It is the one that makes us say: 'medicines are expensive, only half should be given'. This means shortening the lives of the elderly. In so doing, we deny hope, the hope of the children who bring us the life that makes us go forward, and the hope that is in the roots that the elderly give us.” Instead, “Let's discard both.”
Francis also spoke about the pandemic and how it shows that “it is not enough for a problem to be serious for it to come to people’s attention and be addressed.” This is the case of “the devastating impact of certain diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis. Poor health and hygienic conditions cause millions of avoidable deaths in the world every year. If we compare this with the concern caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we can see how the seriousness of a problem and the corresponding mobilisation of energy and resources is perceived differently.”
"Of course, taking all measures to stem and defeat COVID-19 on a global level is the right thing to do, but this moment in history in which our health is directly threatened should make us more aware of what it means to be vulnerable and live daily in insecurity. In doing so, we will also be able to assume responsibility for the serious conditions in which others live and in which we have so far been little or not at all interested.
“Thus, we shall learn not to project our priorities onto populations who live on other continents, where other needs are more urgent; where, for example, drinking water and daily bread are in short supply, not only vaccines. I don’t know if one should laugh or cry, cry sometimes, upon hearing rulers or community leaders advise slum dwellers to sanitise themselves several times a day with soap and water. My dear, have you ever been to a slum: There is no water there, they know nothing about soap.”
“Please, let us take care of these people, when we think about health. I welcome any commitment to a fair and universal distribution of vaccines; this is important, but it must be done taking into account broader criteria of justice to meet health needs and promote life” looking at health in its multiple dimensions at a global level.
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01/06/2022 18:51
