Cardinal John Tong, the Apostolic Administrator of Hong Kong, has invited Christians to “revisit the notion of the culture of life”.
His invitation came in a message ahead of Pro-Life Day 2020, which this year coincides with the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of Pope St. John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life).
In the past seven months, noted Cardinal Tong, “the pandemic (Covid-19) has claimed the lives of over 810,000 persons and infected more than 23.5 million persons worldwide. This disaster drives us to reflect on the values and meaning of life and treasure them more.”
The encyclical, The Gospel of Life, is “meant to be a precise and vigorous reaffirmation of the value of human life and its inviolability, and at the same time, a pressing appeal addressed to each and every person, in the name of God: respect, protect, love and serve life, every human life!” said Cardinal Tong, citing Evangelium Vitae.
…Cardinal Tong noted that, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, some countries adopted some policies and attitudes that treated the pandemic lightly – like the common flu or by handling it with the approach of “herd immunity.” These attitudes, he said, “devalued our vulnerable brothers and sisters,” caused us to “neglect our responsibility to care for our brothers and sisters properly,” and intensified the impact of “the culture of death.”
His invitation came in a message ahead of Pro-Life Day 2020, which this year coincides with the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of Pope St. John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life).
In the past seven months, noted Cardinal Tong, “the pandemic (Covid-19) has claimed the lives of over 810,000 persons and infected more than 23.5 million persons worldwide. This disaster drives us to reflect on the values and meaning of life and treasure them more.”
The encyclical, The Gospel of Life, is “meant to be a precise and vigorous reaffirmation of the value of human life and its inviolability, and at the same time, a pressing appeal addressed to each and every person, in the name of God: respect, protect, love and serve life, every human life!” said Cardinal Tong, citing Evangelium Vitae.
…Cardinal Tong noted that, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, some countries adopted some policies and attitudes that treated the pandemic lightly – like the common flu or by handling it with the approach of “herd immunity.” These attitudes, he said, “devalued our vulnerable brothers and sisters,” caused us to “neglect our responsibility to care for our brothers and sisters properly,” and intensified the impact of “the culture of death.”