This Saturday, June 20, 2020, Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Carlos Osoro, gave the opening talk of the I International Bioethics Seminar in which he spoke about the role and importance of faith in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This seminar, which will run from June 20 to 27, 2020, is organized by the Latin American Academy of Catholic Leaders together with the Bioethics Institute of the Finis Terrae University of Chile, the Lumen Gentium Catholic University of Mexico and the Montserrate Catholic University of Bogotá.
On the first day, 700 people participated via Zoom and 400 via YouTube from 25 countries in America and Europe.
[[[https://youtube.com/embed/J730mC4hUaY width=800 height=600]]]
January 26, 2022
In his inaugural talk “God in the face of the pandemic: a look of faith”, Cardinal Osoro addressed the consequences of COVID-19 from a look of faith, recognizing the paternal and loving presence of God in the midst of history.
I begin by inviting you to “dare to live this time of mercy.”
The prelate also meditated on the beatitudes and recalled the main teachings of Pope Francis' magisterium on Mercy.
"At this time, it seems to me that it is important to discover this: Blessed are those who cry and are able to see their personal destiny as well as that of everyone in a state of confusion and suffering. We must see the pain of so many people and we have the mission to console," he said.
"If this humanity wants to defend itself from pandemics and does not want to forget anyone, it has to know that we are children of God, and precisely for that reason, we are brothers of all men. There is no one strange to us, no matter how far away. If they are having a bad time, I owe it to those people and I must put in place the necessary means so that the truth reaches them, that God continues to care for them through us. To eliminate all types of pandemics, we must recover these two nouns: children and brothers," he added.
At the end of his presentation, the Cardinal shared with the students multiple painful situations that he has had to deal with within his diocese where thousands of people have died.
When asked how you can help people and families who are suffering, he responded: "The answer is, be close to them! Close to the families, to the sick. Meet them, that's where we have to go."
"Our vocation is to give the face of Our Lord to the people, naturally with an open heart, with open doors. Offering mercy is following in the footsteps of Christ, knowing how to go ahead, take initiatives without fear, go out to meet, seek those who are far away and never close our hearts to anyone," he added.
The International Bioethics Seminar will continue to be held on Saturday mornings, in which they will address topics such as suffering, pain, death, biopolitics, mental health and resilience in the face of stress and depression derived from the pandemic; bioethical criteria for patient care and support for grief due to COVID 19.
The next speakers are the members of the Pontifical Academy for Life, the neurologist Alejandro Serani and the Cuban doctor Rene Zamora. The Chilean bioethicist Sergio Valenzuela, the psychiatrist Raul Ventura-Juncá and the rector of the PUC Ignacio Sánchez, among others, are also teachers of this seminar.
For more information, go to the official site http://www.liderescatolicos.net/bioetica/
The conference can be seen on the YouTube channel of the Leaders Academy: https://www.youtube.com/LideresCatolicos
Tags: Bioethics, Seminar, Cardinal Osoro, Cardinal Carlos Osoro, International Bioethics Seminar