COMECE, 12 september 2023

COMECE and Katholisches Büro express concerns over EP SoHO Regulation Draft

The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) and the Katholisches Büro in Berlin are jointly releasing a statement on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, expressing their deep concerns about the draft of the European Parliament’s position on the SoHO Regulation. This regulation will set the fundamental curse for future handling of prenatal human life in European transplantation and pharmaceutical legislation. 

The members of the European Parliament are called to vote on the draft and tabled amendments prepared by the ENVI Committee concerning the future Regulation on “Quality and safety standards for substances of human origin intended for human use” – also known as SoHO Regulation.

The Secretariat of COMECE, in collaboration with the Katholisches Büro in Berlin, expresses profound concerns about the potential consequences of the broad definition of ‘human substance’ outlined in the draft, which could include human embryos and foetuses.

“The danger lies in the possibility that such a definition may degrade the dignity and value of human life, creating an unacceptable equivalence between embryos and foetuses and simple skin cells or blood plasma”, Fr. Manuel Barrios Prieto, Secretary General of COMECE, explains.

Furthermore, the joint statement raises questions about Article 58 of the draft. If approved, this article would permit and mandate preliminary genetic testing on embryos and foetuses, potentially paving the way for life selection and raising concerns about compatibility with the right of self-determination for both donors and recipients.

Lastly, COMECE and the Katholisches Büro in Berlin underscore the need for greater clarity in the draft concerning the rights of individual EU Member States to regulate this highly ethical field. The statement emphasises that “it must remain possible for each Member State to refuse the authorisation of a SoHO preparation [and also] its recognition“.

Once approved by the European Parliament, the text will serve as the institution’s position in preparation for upcoming trialogue negotiations with the European Commission and the Council of the European Union.

In the context of the public debate on including a supposed right to abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, COMECE publishes the statement ‘The Ethical Indefensibility of an EU Fundamental Right to Abortion’ elaborated by its Commission on Ethics.

The document argues that the respect for the inalienable dignity of every human being in every stage of life – especially in situations of complete vulnerability – is a fundamental principle in our democratic societies.

H.E. Mgr. Anton Jamnik, President of the COMECE Commission on Ethics, states that “EU Member States have very different constitutional traditions with regard to the legal regulation of abortion, therefore, constituting a fundamental right to abortion would go against the general principles of the Union law”. The document also reiterates that “there is no recognised right to abortion in European or International law”.

At the beginning of 2022, COMECE expressed its deep concern over President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal of including a supposed right to abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

In July 2022, reacting to a resolution of the European Parliament, COMECE released a statement encouraging political leaders “to work for more unity among Europeans, not to create higher ideological barriers and polarization”.

Verklaring van de bisschoppen van België: ‘Verregaande verruiming toegang tot abortus’.

Kerknet.be, 26 april 2023

In het federale parlement wordt voorgesteld de termijn voor abortus op te trekken van twaalf tot minstens achttien weken na de conceptie. Ook wordt geadviseerd niet alleen ernstige medische aandoeningen als reden te kunnen inroepen, maar ook mentale problemen. Eveneens wordt gepleit voor de afschaffing van de zesdaagse wachttermijn en voor de schrapping van de informatieplicht over alternatieven.

Wat met ‘mentale problemen’ wordt bedoeld, wordt niet omschreven. Die kunnen van gelijk welke aard zijn. Het leven van een levensvatbaar kind kan dan beëindigd worden, ook als het geen acute bedreiging is voor het leven of de gezondheid van de moeder. Kan het dat daarbij geen verdere vragen worden gesteld?

Bovendien is de zwangerschapsonderbreking na twaalf weken een veel zwaardere en veel ingrijpendere handeling. Het is belangrijk dat we dit terdege beseffen. Voor velen die ze zullen moeten uitvoeren, zal dat niet evident zijn. Ook voor de moeder zelf roept de psychische verwerking ervan vele vragen op.

Niet verwonderlijk dat velen over de ideologische grenzen heen verwachten dat hier grote voorzichtigheid aan de dag wordt gelegd. Al in 2019 hebben artsen, vroedkundigen, verpleegkundigen en andere zorgverleners openlijk hun bezorgdheid geuit bij het voorstel van een verlenging van de termijn. Het raakt hen in hun professionele roeping en taak. Te meer omdat ook wordt geadviseerd om abortus, nu al uit het strafrecht verwijderd, expliciet onder de wetgeving inzake gezondheidszorg te situeren. En dus zonder meer te beschouwen als een medische handeling.

Zeker, omstandigheden kunnen mensen radeloos en uitzichtloos maken. Maar dan stellen dat het om een medische ingreep gaat, doet geen recht aan wat de betrokkenen zelf ervaren en beleven. Waarom dan nog raad en hulp vragen? Te meer omdat zelfs mogelijke alternatieven beter niet ter sprake komen, zoals eveneens wordt voorgesteld. Een luisterend oor en begeleiding zijn toch kostbaar?

Tot hiertoe was de wetgever bekommerd om een juiste balans te vinden tussen de bescherming van het ongeboren leven en de zelfbeschikking van de zwangere vrouw. Dat is in de nieuwe voorstellen niet meer het geval. Nochtans is de bescherming van het ongeboren leven, ook en in het bijzonder in een rechtsstaat, op zich al uiterst belangrijk. Ze is dat des te meer wanneer vandaag verder onderzoek wordt gedaan naar de pijnperceptie van foetussen.

Onze samenleving heeft het steeds moeilijker met alles wat onze plannen doorkruist en onze levenswijze verstoort. Het geldt voor wie oud of ziek is, voor armen en vreemdelingen, voor mensen op de vlucht. Dat geldt ook voor het ongeboren leven. Dat is het wat paus Franciscus in zijn encycliek Laudato Sí schrijft: Wanneer de persoonlijke en maatschappelijke gevoeligheid voor het erkennen van nieuw leven verloren gaat, verdwijnen ook andere vormen van openheid die waardevol zijn voor de samenleving.

Kardinaal Jozef De Kesel en de bisschoppen van België

IPID – Brussel, woensdag 26 april 2023

In a statement released on Friday 8 July 2022, Fr. Manuel Barrios Prieto, General Secretary of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), regrets the adoption of a new resolution on abortion by the European Parliament. “We must work for more unity among Europeans, not to create higher ideological barriers and polarization”.

According to Fr. Barrios Prieto, the resolution – entitle “US Supreme Court decision to overturn abortion rights in the United States and the need to safeguard abortion rights and Women’s health in the EU” – paves the way for a deviation from universally recognized human rights and misrepresents the tragedy of abortion for mothers in difficulties.

“The prioritization of the inclusion of abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – the statement reads – intensifies confrontations among our fellow citizens and between the Member States”.

In his statement, the General Secretary also encourages MEPs to “work for more unity among Europeans, not to create higher ideological barriers and polarization”, and calls on the European Parliament not to “enter into an area, such abortion, which is out of its competence”.

In June 2022 COMECE released another declaration in view of the European Parliament discussion on the leaked draft opinion of the US Supreme Court concerning abortion.

Pauselijke Academie voor het Leven, 24 juni 2022

Regarding the United States Supreme Court decision that modified the 1973 legal position Roe v. Wade on the issue of abortion, the Pontifical Academy for Life presents the following statement.

The Pontifical Academy for Life joins U.S. Bishops’ statement on the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. As Archbishop H. Gomez and Archbishop Lori declared:

“It is a time for healing wounds and repairing social divisions; it is a time for reasoned reflection and civil dialogue, and for coming together to build a society and economy that supports marriages and families, and where every woman has the support and resources she needs to bring her child into this world in love.”

The Court’s opinion shows how the issue of abortion continues to arouse heated debate. The fact that a large country with a long democratic tradition has changed its position on this issue also challenges the whole world. It is not right that the problem is set aside without adequate overall consideration. The protection and defense of human life is not an issue that can remain confined to the exercise of individual rights but instead is a matter of broad social significance. After 50 years, it is important to reopen a non-ideological debate on the place that the protection of life has in a civil society to ask ourselves what kind of coexistence and society we want to build.

It is a question of developing political choices that promote conditions of existence in favor of life without falling into a priori ideological positions. This also means ensuring adequate sexual education, guaranteeing health care accessible to all and preparing legislative measures to protect the family and motherhood, overcoming existing inequalities. We need solid assistance to mothers, couples and the unborn child that involves the whole community, encouraging the possibility for mothers in difficulty to carry on with the pregnancy and to entrust the child to those who can guarantee the child’s growth.

Archbishop Paglia said: “in the face of Western society that is losing its passion for life, this act is a powerful invitation to reflect together on the serious and urgent issue of human generativity and the conditions that make it possible; by choosing life, our responsibility for the future of humanity is at stake”.

Declaration of the General Secretary of COMECE on the EP discussion on “Global threats to abortion rights”

In view of the discussion scheduled for today, Wednesday 8 June 2022, in the European Parliament under the title “Global threats to abortion rights: the possible overturn of abortion rights in the US by the Supreme Court”, the Secretary General of COMECE, Fr Manuel Barrios Prieto, has made the following declaration:

We see with surprise that the European Parliament will discuss the impact of a leaked draft opinion of the US Supreme Court concerning abortion. This is an unacceptable interference in the democratic jurisdictional decisions of a sovereign state, a country that is also not a Member State of the EU. The adoption of a resolution by the European Parliament that endorses this interference will only discredit this institution.

In this regard, we would like to reiterate that, from a legal perspective, there is no recognized right to abortion in European or International Law. Therefore, no State can be obliged to legalize abortion, or to facilitate it, or be instrumental to perform it.

The EU should respect the legislative competences of its Member States and the principle of conferral whereby the Union shall act only within the limits of the competences conferred upon it by the Member States in the Treaties to attain the objectives set out therein (Article 5.2 of the Treaty of the European Union). As the Standing Committee of COMECE expressed in a statement in February 2022 the attempt to introduce a supposed right to abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union would be a law “devoid of an ethical foundation and destined to be a cause of perpetual conflict among the citizens of the EU.”

We also note with high concern and regret the negation of the fundamental right to conscientious objection, which is an emanation of freedom of conscience, as declared by Article 10.1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and recognised by the UN Human Rights Committee (case Jeong et al v. Republic of Korea, 27 April 2011). We are alarmed that the right of health institutions to refuse to provide certain services, including abortion, is weakened or, even, denied. As stated by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in its Resolution 1763 (2010) on the right to conscientious objection in lawful medical care “no person, hospital or institution shall be coerced, held liable or discriminated against in any manner because of a refusal to perform, accommodate, assist or submit to an abortion, the performance of a human miscarriage (…) or any act which could cause the death of a human fetus or embryo, for any reason.”

As the Standing Committee of COMECE highlighted: “We are aware of the tragedy and complexity of the situations in which mothers considering an abortion find themselves. Caring for women who are in a difficult or a conflict situation because of their pregnancy is a central part of the diaconal ministry of the Church and must also be a duty exercised by our societies. Women in distress should not be left alone, nor can the right to life of the unborn child be ignored. They both must receive all necessary help and assistance.”

In a statement released on Tuesday 8 February 2022, the Presidency of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) expresses its deep concern on President Macron’s proposal of including a supposed right to abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Aware of the tragedy and complexity of the situations in which mothers considering an abortion find themselves, the EU Bishops highlight the need to provide the necessary help and assistance to women in distress and to their unborn child.

“Caring for women who are in a difficult or a conflict situation because of their pregnancy is a central part of the diaconal ministry of the Church and must also be a duty exercised by our societies”, reads the statement of the EU Bishops.

From a legal perspective, the members of the COMECE Presidency stress that “there is no recognized right to abortion in European or international law. Attempting to change this – they continue – not only goes against fundamental European beliefs and values, but would be an unjust law, devoid of an ethical foundation and destined to be a cause of perpetual conflict among the citizens of the EU”.

“The proposal of President Macron of inserting this supposed right can in no way be seen as «breathing new life into our basic rights»”, continued the Bishops of the European Union.

Recalling the founding fathers of the European Union, the COMECE Presidency stresses that the European integration should always “foster and promote respect for different identities and avoid ideological impositions”.

The statement of the COMECE Presidency follows President Emmanuel Macron’s speech addressed to the European Parliament on 19 January 2022 in the context of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The Presidency of COMECE is composed of:
• H. Em. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ (President)
• H.E. Mgr. Mariano Crociata (First Vice-President)
• H.E. Mgr. Noel Treanor (Vice-President)
• H.E. Mgr. Jan Vokál (Vice-President)
• H.E. Mgr. Franz-Josef Overbeck (Vice-President)

Joint appeal from the presidents of COMECE and CEC
European Churches urge people to get vaccinated against COVID-19

COMECE, 14 december 2021

Urging responsibility and care amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and encouraging vaccination together with necessary sanitary measures, H.Em. Card. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, President of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), and Rev. Christian Krieger, President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), have issued the following joint appeal.

In this time of Advent, let us manifest Christ’s love by demonstrating responsibility and care for all. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues into a second year, European Churches encourage everyone to observe necessary sanitary measures and get vaccinated.

According to the reports, COVID-19 infections are still on the rise in Europe, while doctors and paramedics are exhausted and hospitals face the risk of imminent collapse.

Varying vaccination rates throughout Europe offer clear indications of the reasons for this dramatic situation. In several Member States of the European Union, the uptake of full vaccination, unfortunately, still remains much below the needed threshold for stemming the spread of the virus, although vaccines are available.

Subsequent to listening to experts in science and medicine, we believe that vaccination is currently the most effective way to counter the pandemic and save human lives. Vaccination offers protection not only to ourselves but also to our brothers and sisters, particularly the more fragile among us. It is thus an act of love and care and also one of responsibility and social justice.

We recognise that the decision to get vaccinated may not be easy and reasons to be hesitant may be manifold. Some may not be able to receive the vaccination due to serious medical conditions. Others may be afraid or doubtful of its effects. We encourage them to clarify their concerns and take a well-informed decision after having sought professional advice from competent authorities and experts.

Regrettably, we are also witnessing the spread of false information and unfounded claims in our societies with regard to vaccination, instrumentalising the pandemic by causing fear and polarisation at a time when our societies need cohesion, unity and solidarity.

We strongly appeal to all who bear responsibility in society, including political and media actors, as well as members of our Churches, to counter any attempts of disinformation.

We call on all societal actors to raise the awareness of everyone and encourage them to take responsible actions to protect themselves and others, particularly those who cannot be vaccinated for health or other reasons.

We also wish to reiterate our call to the European Union and its Member States to fulfill their vaccine-sharing pledges and step up global efforts towards ensuring an equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all, including in regions with weaker health systems.

While we prepare to celebrate Christmas, let us remember: “A voice cries: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God (Isaiah 40.3)”. God sent His son to earth to express His love and care for us. This good news remains very relevant today. Let us give living witness to it, let us show responsibility and care.

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Joint appeal from the presidents of COMECE and CEC European Churches urge people to get vaccinated against COVID-19

Urging responsibility and care amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and encouraging vaccination together with necessary sanitary measures, H.Em. Card. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, President of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), and Rev. Christian Krieger, President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), have issued the following joint appeal.

In this time of Advent, let us manifest Christ’s love by demonstrating responsibility and care for all. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues into a second year, European Churches encourage everyone to observe necessary sanitary measures and get vaccinated.

According to the reports, COVID-19 infections are still on the rise in Europe, while doctors and paramedics are exhausted and hospitals face the risk of imminent collapse.

Varying vaccination rates throughout Europe offer clear indications of the reasons for this dramatic situation. In several Member States of the European Union, the uptake of full vaccination, unfortunately, still remains much below the needed threshold for stemming the spread of the virus, although vaccines are available.

Subsequent to listening to experts in science and medicine, we believe that vaccination is currently the most effective way to counter the pandemic and save human lives. Vaccination offers protection not only to ourselves but also to our brothers and sisters, particularly the more fragile among us. It is thus an act of love and care and also one of responsibility and social justice.

We recognise that the decision to get vaccinated may not be easy and reasons to be hesitant may be manifold. Some may not be able to receive the vaccination due to serious medical conditions. Others may be afraid or doubtful of its effects. We encourage them to clarify their concerns and take a wellinformed decision after having sought professional advice from competent authorities and experts.

Regrettably, we are also witnessing the spread of false information and unfounded claims in our societies with regard to vaccination, instrumentalising the pandemic by causing fear and polarisation at a time when our societies need cohesion, unity and solidarity.

We strongly appeal to all who bear responsibility in society, including political and media actors, as well as members of our Churches, to counter any attempts of disinformation. We call on all societal actors to raise the awareness of everyone and encourage them to take responsible actions to protect themselves and others, particularly those who cannot be vaccinated for health or other reasons.

We also wish to reiterate our call to the European Union and its Member States to fulfill their vaccinesharing pledges and step up global efforts towards ensuring an equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all, including in regions with weaker health systems.

While we prepare to celebrate Christmas, let us remember: “A voice cries: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God (Isaiah 40.3)”. God sent His son to earth to express His love and care for us. This good news remains very relevant today. Let us give living witness to it, let us show responsibility and care.

Katholiek Nieuwsblad, 5 november 2021
door Willem kardinaal Eijk, aartsbisschop van Utrecht en medisch ethicus

Is het een morele plicht om je te laten vaccineren tegen Covid-19, zoals wel wordt gezegd? En zo ja, kan een overheid of werkgever mensen dan ook juridisch tot vaccinatie verplichten?

Het fundamentele principe van de katholieke sociale leer is het algemeen welzijn. Dat houdt onder meer in dat de levens en de gezondheid van mensen moeten worden beschermd. Een regering draagt hier de eerste verantwoordelijkheid voor en kan dus maatregelen opleggen om levens te beschermen, zoals lockdowns, afstandsregels of een ‘coronapas’. Dit wordt vaak gezien als een inbreuk op de vrijheid van het individu, maar autonomie is niet absoluut. Regeringen hebben het recht en zelfs de plicht om die in te perken als dat nodig is om een pan-demie tegen te gaan.

De vaccinatievraag heeft twee kanten. De maatschappelijke vraag is of vaccinatie vanuit het oogpunt van het algemeen welzijn een morele plicht is. De persoonlijke vraag is of vaccinatie voor het individu een proportioneel middel is om zijn leven te beschermen.

Het antwoord hangt af van drie voorwaarden: vaccins moeten bewezen effectief zijn; er moet een goede balans zijn tussen de gezondheidsrisico’s die je met vaccins voorkomt, en hun bijwerkingen; en de vaccins moeten op moreel goede of minstens te rechtvaardigen wijze zijn gemaakt.

Bijzonder bezwaar

De in het Westen gebruikte vaccins beschermen behoorlijk tot zeer goed tegen infectie met het coronavirus. Ja, gevaccineerden kunnen besmet raken door varianten, maar worden dan vaak minder ziek en zijn minder besmettelijk. Bezien vanuit het algemeen welzijn en de plicht je leven te beschermen, is vaccinatie een moreel goede daad en misschien ook een plicht.

Zoals alle middelen hebben vaccins bijwerkingen. De meest voorkomende zijn soms pittig, maar onschuldig. Ernstige bijwerkingen zijn zeer zeldzaam.

Een bijzonder bezwaar tegen sommige vaccins is dat bij de ontwikkeling, productie en/of testfase ervan, cellijnen zijn gebruikt die gekweekt zijn uit cellen van foetussen die, vaak decennia geleden, werden geaborteerd. Een menselijke foetus direct aborteren is een ernstig en intrinsiek kwaad, en nooit moreel gerechtvaardigd. Maar de klassieke moraaltheologie hanteert al eeuwen een casuïstiek om zulke absolute normen toe te passen. Bij de vaccins gaat het dan om het principe van medewerking aan het kwaad: in hoeverre zijn makers en ontvangers ervan betrokken bij de abortus?

Vertrekpunt is datje niet mag meewerken aan het kwaad dat anderen doen. Maar dat kun je niet categorisch weigeren. Zo volgt uit gewetensbezwaren tegen overheidsprojecten niet dat je mag weigeren de belasting te betalen waarmee je bijdraagt aan het algemeen welzijn.

Als we het met abortus eens zijn, dan is er ‘formele’ medewerking; doen we dat niet, dan is die ‘materieel’. Formele medewerking aan het kwaad is nooit toegestaan; materiële soms, als die indirect is.

Als je abortus niet goedkeurt en niet direct betrokken was bij de abortus waaruit de cellijnen voortkomen, is de medewerking materieel, indirect en veraf (of zeer veraf als je het vaccin krijgt). Het coronavirus kan ernstige ziektes veroorzaken, kent relatief hoge sterftecijfers en kan het sociaaleconomische leven ontwrichten.
Vaccins zijn de enige manier om de pandcmie terug te dringen. Materiële, indirecte en verre medewerking aan de genoemde abortus door vaccins te maken of ontvangen, is dan gerechtvaardigd. Wel moeten we, zoals de Amerikaanse bisschoppen stelden, indien mogelijk een vaccin kiezen waarbij de cellijnen zo weinig mogelijk zijn gebruikt.

Mogen overheden vervolgens vaccinatie juridisch verplichten met een beroep op het algemeen welzijn? Nee. Vaccinatie is een ingreep in de lichamelijke integriteit van een persoon, die daar vrij en verantwoordelijk mee moet instemmen. Niemand mag iets doen dat volgens zijn geweten een kwaad is, ook niet als dat geweten misschien dwaalt. En niemand mag daartoe worden gedwongen. Wie geen vaccin wil, moet wel de gangbare coronamaatregelen in acht nemen.

Een uitzondering is de zorg. Ethisch gezien mag een zorginstelling personeel dat met kwetsbare mensen werkt, vragen zich te laten vaccineren, en weigeren hun daar te laten werken als ze dat niet doen.

Paus Franciscus noemde vaccinatie tegen Covid-19 een “daad van liefde”, een “simpele maar diepe manier om voor elkaar te zorgen”. Wie zich laat vaccineren, toont ook respect voor het recht op leven van zijn medemens. Misschien vereist ook de rechtvaardigheid dus vaccinatie. Het is ook een proportionele manier om je eigen leven te beschermen. Vaccinatie tegen Covid-19 is vanuit dat oogpunt een morele plicht.

Dit artikel is een ingekorte versie van een lezing die kardinaal Eijk onlangs in Rome hield.

Message of the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development for World Mental Health Day, 10 October 2021

Introduction

World Mental Health Day is celebrated on 10 October. This year’s theme is Mental Health in an Unequal World, and aims to draw attention to the inequalities that exist in the treatment and care of people with mental illness.

In low- and middle-income countries, between 75% and 95% of people with mental disorders cannot access mental health services, and in high-income countries the situation is no better!

One of the most neglected dimensions in the broad universe of health is mental health, which is often accompanied by stereotypes, lack of knowledge about specific issues and misinformation. Worldwide, many human rights violations are committed against people with mental disorders: men and women of all ages who already suffer from the stigma and discrimination to which they are subjected, leading to isolation and marginalisation. In about half of all cases, mental disorders start before the age of 14, so much so that suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15 to 29 year olds.

Current situation

It is estimated that before the Covid 19 pandemic, almost one billion people worldwide suffered from mental disorders. As the health emergency unfolded, the social restrictions imposed by the first phase of the emergency led to an increase in the abuse of alcohol and other psychotropic substances, as well as the exacerbation of various forms of addiction, including gambling. It is precisely the measures taken to combat the Covid 19 virus that have been a further cause of loneliness for people with mental disorders: the impossibility of carrying out their usual activities and cultivating their usual relationships has worsened their already distressing condition of marginalisation, especially for people who are housed in social assistance institutions and psychiatric hospitals.

In reality, the onset of the pandemic, with profound consequences for the entire world population, is only the precipitating factor in a multi-dimensional crisis rooted in inadequate social, health and economic policies. Policies that have often generated new poverty and marginalisation, and which continue to create conditions of injustice and unfairness in the distribution of resources, to the detriment of millions of people. A crisis fuelled by a widespread weakening of spiritual values, of the sense of responsibility and of the value of solidarity. The gap between rich and poor has widened. With the health emergency, new poverties have emerged, adding to the already known social fragilities, mainly due to the lack of work. In particular, in the most vulnerable countries more and more people are losing their jobs, entering a condition of poverty; it is especially women who suffer most from the consequences of the pandemic and social inequalities.

Evidence shows that poverty and inequality affect a person’s mental development and mental health. Social disadvantage – which begins before birth and increases throughout life – has a significant impact on an individual’s mental health as a critical factor: the physical and social environment in which one lives, as well as access to health services and education, are all social determinants that have a profound effect on mental health.

In order to reduce the incidence of mental disorders associated with social inequalities, it is therefore necessary to adopt policies aimed at improving the physical and social environment of the unborn child, as well as living conditions during early childhood, school age, the period when family plans and professional ambitions are being realised, and in later life. In particular, it has been observed that ensuring optimal living conditions for children from the outset offers a greater likelihood of wellbeing, including mental wellbeing, in adulthood, with direct benefits for the community to which they belong.

In fact, we note that, in every culture, when mental health is lacking, there is a triple fragility: the fragility of any illness that confronts us with a personal limitation; the fragility that arises from a dissolution of one’s own identity, which leaves people “without a face”; the social fragility that is the result of the lack of integration in one’s own community and of the rejection of those who are frightened by mental illness and do not know how to integrate it, welcome it, treat it. Stigma and discrimination can affect more widely and deeply than wounds to the body and mind, and involve not only the person with the disorder but also his or her family. I therefore appeal for action to be taken to put an end to this personal and family stigma by tackling the causes that lead to rejection and isolation.

The role of the care community

In the face of this, we are all called to be close to our brothers and sisters with mental illness, to fight against all forms of discrimination and stigma against them.

As Pope Francis reminds us, “a truly human and fraternal society will be capable of ensuring in an efficient and stable way that each of its members is accompanied at every stage of life. Not only by providing for their basic needs, but by enabling them to give the best of themselves, even though their performance may be less than optimum” Indeed, “only when our economic and social system no longer produces even a single victim, a single person cast aside, will we be able to celebrate the feast of universal fraternity” The Holy Father’s words tell us that the logic of discarding and rejection is a logic that subverts social justice in the world. The words of the Holy Father tell us that the logic of rejection and waste is a logic that subverts social justice in the world.

This underlines the need to abandon the current paradigm of development in order to adopt a cultural model that restores human dignity to the centre and promotes the good of individuals and of the whole of humanity. It is time to return to caring for the fragility of every man and woman, every child and every elderly person, with the attentive attitude of solidarity of the Good Samaritan .

A caring community is a community of Good Samaritans

Our thoughts then turn to the many “hidden Samaritans”, the professionals, volunteers and workers at all levels who take care of those suffering from mental distress with professionalism and competence, and who often operate in difficult conditions due to the absence or scarcity of adequate facilities for treating these illnesses and assisting the sick person and his or her family. It is therefore hoped that the health system will be strengthened to protect mental health, not least by supporting organisations engaged in scientific research into mental illness and promoting models of social inclusion. It is important to involve the community in which the mentally ill person lives, to ensure presence and affection .

It is in this direction that the efforts of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Vatican Covid 19 Commission, which the Holy Father established on 20 March 2020, within the Dicastery itself, to express the Church’s concern and love for the entire human family in the face of the pandemic, are moving. Drawing on a wealth of expertise from local communities, global platforms and academic experts, the Commission seeks broad and bold changes: dignity at work, new structures for the common good, solidarity at the heart of governance and nature in harmony with social systems. The aim is not only to alleviate immediate suffering, but also to initiate the transformation of hearts, minds and structures towards a new model of development that prepares a better future for all.

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson
Prefect