Fundamental to healing

Richard A. Sokerka

Although the Catholic Church is not an expert in the global health crisis forged by the COVID-19 pandemic, Catholic social teaching is fundamental to healing the issues faced by the world today.

Those were the words of Pope Francis last week. Speaking via livestream from the library of the Vatican’s apostolic palace, the Holy Father stated, “Although the Church administers the healing grace of Christ through the Sacraments, and although she provides health services all over the world, she is not an expert in the prevention or treatment of the pandemic.”

He pointed to the Catholic Church’s social teaching that is vitally important for today’s world and the issues that it faces. “Over the centuries, and in the light of the Gospel, the Church has developed some social principles that are fundamental principles that can help us move forward,” the Pope said.

Pope Francis also spoke about the importance of faith in Jesus Christ, who heals not only physical ailments, but also spiritual.

He pointed to the Gospel’s many accounts of miraculous healings performed by Jesus during his public ministry. “So, we ask ourselves: how can we help heal our world today? As disciples of the Lord Jesus, physician of souls and bodies, we are called to continue ‘his work, a work of healing and salvation’ in a physical, social and spiritual sense,” Pope Francis said, citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

This work of healing is facilitated, he pointed out, through the closely related principles found in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. He listed the principles of the dignity of the person, the common good, the preferential option for the poor, the universal destination of goods, solidarity, subsidiarity, and care for the earth. “All these principles express, in different ways, the virtues of faith, hope and love,” he explained.

During this time of sickness due to the pandemic and the social disease found in the violent protests sweeping the nation on a nightly basis, turning to the Church’s rich social teaching has been a source of healing in the past and it can be in the future for the problems we face.

Indeed, the Pope said, “Catholic social tradition can help the human family heal this world that suffers from serious diseases.”