Pope Francis called on Sunday (April 19) for an all-embracing vision of the world after the COVID-19 crisis, saying moving on without global solidarity or excluding sectors of society from the recovery would result in "an even worse virus of selfish indifference".
Ciara Lee reports
The pope left the Vatican on Sunday (April 19) for the first time in more than a month giving Mass in an almost empty church a few blocks away.
Marking Devine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis had a warning for the world after the Covid-19 crisis.
(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) POPE FRANCIS SAYING: "Now, while we are looking forward to a slow and arduous recovery from the pandemic, there is a danger that we will forget those who are left behind.
The risk is that we may then be struck by an even worse virus, that of selfish indifference.
A virus spread by the thought that life is better if it is better for me, and that everything will be fine if it is fine for me.
It begins there and ends up selecting one person over another, discarding the poor, and sacrificing those left behind on the altar of progress.
The present pandemic, however, reminds us that there are no differences or borders between those who suffer.
We are all frail, all equal, all precious." More than 23,000 people have died from the new coronavirus in Italy.
The Vatican has mirrored the nearly six-week-old lockdown in the country forcing the pope to hold all his Masses and general audiences without the public.