Pope salutes ‘saints next door’ in fight against coronavirus
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Pope Francis has admitted to moments of selfishness while living in lockdown at the Vatican, and has saluted people on the frontline of the fight against the coronavirus, including doctors and shop workers, as “the saints who live next door”.
With characteristic frankness, the pope said he struggled with “self-preoccupation” in a largely solitary existence. “Of course I have my areas of selfishness. On Tuesdays, my confessor comes, and I take care of things there,” he said in an interview published in the Catholic weekly the Tablet.
He added: “I’m thinking at this time of the saints who live next door. They are heroes – doctors, volunteers, religious sisters, priests, shop workers – all performing their duty so that society can continue functioning. How many doctors and nurses have died! How many religious sisters have died! All serving … If we become aware of this miracle of the next-door saints, if we can follow their tracks, the miracle will end well, for the good of all.”
Responding to questions put to him by Austen Ivereigh, the British author of a papal biography, Francis spoke of the hypocrisy of politicians who talk about facing up to the coronavirus crisis sweeping the globe while failing to tackle the environmental emergency, supporting a “throwaway culture”, and continuing to manufacture weapons.
