On Easter 2020, gave a sermon focused on the global Covid-19 pandemic. In this sermon, he called for relaxing global sanctions.

Read what he said on sanctions below:

"This is not a time for indifference, because the whole world is suffering and needs to be united in facing the pandemic. May the risen Jesus grant hope to all the poor, to those living on the peripheries, to refugees and the homeless. May these, the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters living in the cities and peripheries of every part of the world, not be abandoned. Let us ensure that they do not lack basic necessities (all the more difficult to find now that many businesses are closed) such as medicine and especially the possibility of adequate health care. In light of the present circumstances, may international sanctions be relaxed, since these make it difficult for countries on which they have been imposed to provide adequate support to their citizens, and may all nations be put in a position to meet the greatest needs of the moment through the reduction, if not the forgiveness, of the debt burdening the balance sheets of the poorest nations." (Read Full Text of Pope Francis Speech Here)

LINKS

FULL TEXT OF POPE FRANCIS’ EASTER URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE 2020 (Avemariaradio)

Pope’s Easter Message: “The contagion of hope” (Vatican News, 4-12-20)

Watch Video - Pope Calls for Relaxing Sanctions (YouTube)

Pope calls for end to sanctions and global arms trade in radical Easter message (Morning Star, 4-13-20)

Pope calls for solidarity in Easter message amid virus lockdown (Aljazeera, 4-12-20)

Pope Francis Says the Coronavirus Is ‘Testing Our Whole Human Family’ (New York Times, 4-12-20

Coronavirus: Pope Francis calls for debt relief and end to sanctions (Euronews, 4-12-20)

Pope Francis Calls for Debt Forgiveness and Ending Sanctions (Telesurtv, 4-12-20)