The Pope said on Sunday he was “saddened” by news reports claiming that people flew abroad to have fun during the pandemic.
“They are good people, but they did not think of those who stayed at home, of the economic problems of many of the people hard hit by the lockdown, of the sick people,” Pope Francis said on Sunday.
“[They thought] just about going on vacation and having fun. This hurt me a lot, ”the Pope said at the end of his Sunday Angelus prayer.
Pope Francis held his Sunday prayers from the library of the Apostolic Palace, rather than from the usual window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, where crowds usually gather, to limit the spread of the virus.
Many countries around the world are facing renewed lockdowns and travel restrictions, with 84 million people now infected with the virus. At least 1.83 million people have died, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
Pope Francis renewed his best wishes for the New Year, saying, “What all of us – and all of us together – can do is make a little more effort to care for one another and for what was created, our common home.”
In the past, the Pope has also criticized people who refuse to wear masks or who protest the restrictions of the coronavirus, saying that they are “moving in their own little world of interests.”
“Today, at this time of darkness and uncertainty during the pandemic, several lights of hope appear, such as the discovery of the vaccines … they must be available to everyone,” said the Pope during his traditional Urbi et Orbi. city and world) in the Vatican.