MEXICO CITY — Central America's bishops have urged their
governments and people to join together to provide health care and protect
lives as the COVID-19 pandemic heaps misery and economic consequences on one of
the poorer parts of the hemisphere.
In a July 5 statement, the episcopal secretariat of Central
America, known by its Spanish acronym as SEDAC, referenced Pope Francis'
admonishment, "We can only get out of this situation together as a whole
humanity," and added: "We're all in the same boat. No one should be
forgotten. We all must get involved. Governments and citizens must join
together in a common effort in favor of health and people's lives."
"We all must comply with the health security measures to
protect the lives of our brothers and sisters," a reference to the calls
for lifting quarantines and reopening churches, even as the pandemic continues
claiming lives. The statement was signed by the secretariat's president,
Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar Alas, and its secretary-general, Cardinal Gregorio
Rosa Chavez -- both of San Salvador, El Salvador.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused hardship in Central America,
where poverty afflicts many and forced quarantines have denied millions a way
to make ends meet. It's also exposed shortcomings in underfunded and
underequipped health systems, left unprepared by neglect and corruption.
Adding to the misery, Tropical Storm Amanda deluged El Salvador
in June, claiming at least 27 lives, destroying an estimated 30,000 homes and
wiping out crops.
"To the families affected by these tragedies" -- the
pandemic and tropical storm -- "we express our closeness and solidarity,"
the bishops said. "The church has worked to be present in order to help
alleviate the pain and communicate hope."
Pope Francis, the bishops continued, "has exhorted (us) to
care for our common home. That's to say, the environment in which we are
developing our lives. Precisely, the pandemic that we are suffering has its
roots in the ecological imbalance caused by the gravely irresponsible attitude
of man."
They also asked people to heed the pope's call to reflect on his
environmental encyclical, "Laudato Si'," saying, "We are
convinced that it is a priority to see the construction of a new model of
development based in the dignity of each person and care of the
environment."
The pandemic has impacted each of the six Central American
countries served by the secretariat differently, but often severely. In Costa
Rica, which had been seen as a model in its initial pandemic response,
community spread of the coronavirus has started, according to a July 3
statement from the Costa Rican bishops' conference.
"We manifest the grave moral responsibility, derived from
the faith, to care for our own health and the health of others … (and)
faithfully observe the decrees and sanitary measures that the health
authorities have told us from the start of the crisis," the Costa Rican
bishops said.
In Nicaragua, the Sandinista government had downplayed the
seriousness of COVID-19 and even thwarted church-sponsored health initiatives.
"We express total solidarity with the Catholic Church in
Nicaragua for its great concern and generous actions in favor of the health and
the lives of the beloved Nicaraguan people," the Central American bishops
said.