A Vatican official on Friday said that the only way to emerge stronger from the coronavirus pandemic is through dialogue, reported CBCP News.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, said that continued dialogue amidst the global health crisis is essential.
“A pandemic requires a pandemic response, a general response. And it has to be done through dialogue,” Cardinal Tagle said.
“I believe without the spirit of dialogue and a culture of dialogue, this pandemic will just get worse,” he said.
This deterioration of the situation, he stressed, is not only in terms of contagion, “but in the sense that the worst in humanity is coming out rather than what is best in all of us.”
“The Covid pandemic is asking from each one of us the best that is in you and not to keep it to yourself but to share it, that’s the culture of dialogue,” he said.
The cardinal, who just recovered from the virus, was speaking at this year’s Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) Congress that was held online.
In his address, he stressed that because of the pandemic, “there’s more urgency of the culture of dialogue”.
According to him, the problem will just continue when there is lack of dialogue “or when borders are set up”.
He also criticized how the pandemic is “politicized” by many groups including politicians and health experts.
“How you wish that they could sit down, share the truth that they have discovered. If everyone is unsure then at least dialogue on the level of uncertainty and share the common uncertainty. And that is already a big step towards a general response,” he said.
