In what is a very unique year, the pandemic and the protests have something very much in common.
Both quickly spread around the world. It didn’t take long for the coronavirus to spreads to almost every country on earth.And now it hasn’t taken very long for the protests over the way George Floyd died to start happening in places around the world where people may never have even heard of Minneapolis.
And now in a rare message that the Vatican calls a “special appeal”, Pope Francis has used his weekly address to speak to America about the protests and the violence.
The Pope saying, "Dear brothers and sisters in the United States, I have witnessed with great concern the disturbing social unrest in your nation in these past days, following the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd.”
"My friends, said Pope Francis,”We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.
"At the same time, we have to recognize that the violence of recent nights is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost,”
The words of Pope Francis to the people of the United States at a time when both the pandemic and now the protests have been raising our awareness about the responsibility we have to each other in a world that is too often focused on self instead of, as the Pope put it, our brothers and sisters.
READ MORE AND WATCH POPE'S ADDRESS.
(Photo credit Getty Images)