Titilola Obilade
Guest Writer
34,000 square miles of lands in Syria and Iraq. The Pope’s visit also has a message to the antivaxxers. Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict aged 93 were both vaccinated in January. All those that traveled with the Pope had also been vaccinated. Without the vaccinations, it would have been difficult to convince the Holy See to allow the Pope travel out of the Vatican. Religious bodies have made a call for their followers to abstain from taking vaccines that are linked to cell lines from aborted fetuses even though they are remotely linked. These organisations have doubled down and said their followers can take such vaccines if they have no other option of vaccines. Pope Francis said those against vaccination were in a “suicidal denial.”
From all I have said above how does the Pope’s visit affect global health? Take a look at Yemen. A quick look would give you the precarious, heart breaking picture of human misery caused by years of wars and sectarian violence. The Yemeni war emanated from the Arab Spring movement but soon ended up as wars between Sunni- led Saudia Arabia and Shi’ite led Iran. Until Biden took office, the USA supplied arms to Saudia Arabia thereby aiding in the Yemeni war. As with any war, the women and children suffer most. Recently, there was a backlash when the United Kingdom proposed slashing aid funds meant for Yemen.
Pope Francis, clearly limping from his sciatia and sporting a mask on and off walked comfortably amongst obviously elated, overjoyed, partially masked crowds. Iraq has been recording four thousand new coronaviruses cases per day. It just got a modest dose of vaccines that were donated by China. If after the Pope’s visit, the optics has brought more foreign aid to Iraq, the Grand Ayatollah’s admonishing for all Iraqis to be allowed to live within their constitutional rights regardless of religion, Christians and people of other less dominant faiths can live without persecution, many untold wars would have been averted. The Pope’s visit would have been an investment that keeps on giving in prevention of religious extremism, unsafe migration, depression and other psychological disorders. The resources used in fixing battle scars on infrastructure and human resources can be diverted to other progressive uses. Most of the conflicts around the world are religious based even if they didn’t start off from a religious point, they end up as one. If Pope’s visit has healed hearts, sown the seeds of interfaith healing, encouraged Christians and non- Christians alike, emblemed selflessness, neigbourliness, love, and Iraq is actually in the news for all the right reasons and not for war- inciting platitudes, then it’s all good. After all, the first verse in the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Hebrews, says, “Let brotherly love continue.” The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, turned Pope Francis has done just that.