Catechesis of Pope Francis on the Global Pandemic: to Heal the World 

By Emma Carolan, CRA Justice Research Officer

In August of this year, Pope Francis began a new catechesis cycle, “To Heal the World,” focussing on the urgent issues highlighted by the global COVID-19 pandemic in the light of the Gospel, the theological virtues and the principles of the Church's social doctrine.

In his eighth catechesis, Subsidiarity and Virtue of Hope, he stated:

"Everyone needs to have the possibility of assuming their own responsibility in the healing processes of the society of which they are a part. When a project is launched that directly or indirectly touches certain social groups, these groups cannot be left out from participating - for example: “What do you do?” -“I go to work with the poor,” - “Beautiful. And what do you do?” - “I teach the poor, I tell the poor what they have to do”. No, this doesn’t work. The first step is to allow the poor to tell you how they live, what they need: Let everyone speak! And this is how the principle of subsidiarity works. We cannot leave the people out of participation; their wisdom, the wisdom of the humbler groups cannot be set aside. Unfortunately, this injustice often happens in those places where there is a concentration of huge economic and geopolitical interests, such as, for example, certain extractive activities in some areas of the planet. The voices of the indigenous peoples, their culture and world view are not taken into consideration."

Here he specifically highlights the global tendency to stifle the voices, culture and world view of Indigenous Peoples. The Permanent Observer Mission of The Holy See to The United Nations has recognised that this not only violates the Catholic Social Teaching of Subsidiarity, but the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination, as laid out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. As H. E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, stated in his 2018 address to the Seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly, the right to Indigenous self-determination:

… demands that they be included as principal partners in every deliberation that directly affects them. This includes the right to maintain their own institutions and to participate in the decision-making processes of the State and of other actors, as highlighted in the recent report of the Special Rapporteur on rights of indigenous peoples. From the perspective of the Holy See, this also means recognizing and giving preference to those beneficial initiatives that indigenous communities and organizations are already undertaking. This is an expression of our strong support for the right of all indigenous peoples to self-determination.

The success of the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations during the COVID-19 Pandemic demonstrates Subsidiarity in action, proving the effectiveness of including and empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, granting them self-determination. You can see more about the importance of the right to self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples here.