His Holiness, Pope Francis, has endorsed a call to believers of all religions to unite together spiritually on May 14 in a day of prayer and fasting to implore God to help humanity overcome the coronavirus pandemic, noting that
“since prayer is a universal value, I accepted this proposal.”
The proposal for this worldwide day of prayer was initiated by the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity, which was established in September 2019 as a concrete response to the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together signed by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, during the pope’s visit to the United Arab Emirates in February 2019.
The Vatican published the appeal from the Higher Committee on May 2nd. The document draws attention to the
“great danger” from Covid -19 “that threatens the lives of millions of people around the world” and states, “while we reaffirm the role of medicine and scientific research in fighting this pandemic, we should not forget to seek refuge in God, the All-Creator, as we face such a severe crisis.”
The appeal calls on all peoples around the world to do good deeds, observe a fast, pray, and make devout supplications to Almighty God to end this pandemic. It requests that “each one from wherever they are and according to the teachings of their religion, faith, or sect, should implore God to lift this pandemic off us and the entire world, to rescue us all from this adversity, to inspire scientists to find a cure that can turn back this disease, and to save the whole world from the health, economic, and human repercussions of this serious pandemic.”
