Cardinal Kevin Farrell Ruadhán Jones
The Pope’s right-hand man on family issues has insisted that it was necessary to cancel global Catholic events due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life spoke to Vatican News Radio about the decision to postpone the World Meeting of Families and World Youth Day and about the lessons we can learn from the crisis.
Dublin-born Cardinal Farrell said that “it would not have been prudent” to carry out either event given the level of uncertainty the coronavirus has caused.
“The situation in the world has changed radically,” the cardinal said. “Given the situation… we had to think would it be possible to have these… international events. This means that people come from many countries round the world. It would be imprudent for us to make that decision[.]”
The cardinal made it clear that the safety of families and young people was paramount in deciding to postpone the events.
“You’ve got to put yourself into the mind of peoples families” he said. “Are you going to bring your wife, your husband, your children to a country such a short period of time after this epidemic is ravaging the world – it’s just not going to happen.”
The cardinal asserted the importance of families during lockdown: “the family is the basis of all social life,” he said. “In the family we learn the values that should guide us in everything we do.”
Cardinal Farrell finished his interview by reflecting on the lessons that we can learn during the virus, adding that he “hopes and prays” we may come to see ourselves as “one family”.
“I believe the world will become a much smaller place,” he said, “because we will have to be worried and care about every corner of this world. We can no longer be an individual thinking of an individual country or situation… The coronavirus affects every corner of the world today, which shows that, the human race, we are all one family.”