Pope Francis during New Year: “The vaccine is needed for the heart”

Vatican City – Pope Francis has stated today that 2021 will be “a good year” if people take care of others and stressed that in addition to a coronavirus vaccine the world needs a “heart vaccine”.

“It doesn’t help to know a lot of people and a lot of things if we don’t take care of them. This year, while we wait for a recovery and new treatments, we don’t leave out the cure. Because, in addition to the vaccine for the body, the “It is a good year if we take care of others, as Our Lady does with us,” he said.

These words of Francis were read in homily by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, at the New Year’s Mass., Dedicated to the “Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, which was celebrated this January 1 at the Vatican.

Pope Francis had planned to preside over this Mass and also that of the first evenings of December 31, 2020, but was unable to attend either due to sciatica, according to the Holy See’s spokesman, Matteo Bruni.

As he did yesterday, December 31, Jorge Bergoglio wrote the homily so that on January 1, Cardinal Parolin read his words to the few attendees and the media who were able to be in the Basilica of St. Peter of the Vatican, due to preventive measures to prevent coronavirus infections.

And it is that this Mass has been celebrated like the rest of Christmas acts in the Vatican, without faithful and in an empty basilica.

The pope emphasized three verbs, bless, be born and find, and highlighted the role of the Virgin Mary, on this day in which the Catholic Church also celebrates the 54th World Day of Peace, this year under the motto “The culture of care as a path to peace.”

“We are not in the world to die, but to generate life,” the pope continued, while stating that “the first step to giving life to those around us is to love it within us.”

He stressed the importance of “educating the heart to care, to value people and things” so that societies take care of others and the world.

He criticized moments before “the world is severely tainted by saying bad things and thinking badly of others, of society, of themselves“, And he has assured that the” curse corrupts, makes everything degenerate “and that” the blessing regenerates, gives strength to start again “.

At the end of the homily, Francisco wondered what people should find in early 2021 and replied, “It would be nice to find time for someone. Time is a wealth we all have, but of which we are jealous of, because we want to use it only for ourselves. “

That’s why he encouraged people to dedicate moments to others, especially to “the one who is alone, the one who suffers, the one who needs to be heard and cared for.”

The calendar of the Vatican’s Christmas celebrations continues on January 6 with Mass for the Epiphany of the Lord.