Prayers as we approach COP26

Prayers as we approach COP26: 11 prayers that we are encouraged to pray by His Holiness, pope Francis:

We must adapt our socio-economic models so they have a human face, because many models have lost it. Thinking about these situations, in God’s name I ask:

1. That governments and all politicians work for the common good. Let them beware of listening only to the economic elite; may they be servants of those people who ask for land, shelter and work and a good life in harmony with all humanity and creation.
2. Powerful countries to stop aggression, blockades and unilateral sanctions against any country anywhere on earth and that conflicts be resolved in multilateral fora such as the United Nations.
3. That the media put an end to the logic of post-truth, disinformation, defamation, slander and that sick attraction for scandal and that they seek to contribute to human fraternity.
4. The telecommunications giants to liberalise access to educational material and exchange with teachers via the internet so that poor children can be educated even under quarantine.
5. Technology giants to stop preying on human weakness, people’s vulnerability, in order to make a profit.
6. Arms manufacturers and dealers to totally cease their activity, that foments violence and war, often in the context of geopolitical games that costs millions of lives and displaces many people.
7. The big food corporations to stop imposing monopolistic production and distribution structures that inflate prices and end up withholding bread from the hungry.
8. The large mining, oil, forestry, real estate, agribusiness companies to stop destroying nature, to stop polluting, to stop intoxicating people and food.
9. Financial groups and international credit institutions to guarantee poor countries the basic needs of their people and to waive those debts so often contracted against the interests of those same peoples.
10. The big laboratories to liberalise patents and to carry out a gesture of humanity and allow every human being access to the vaccine.
11. All of us religious leaders, that we never use God’s name to foment wars. Let us stand by our people, the workers, the humble, and fight together with them so that integral human development may become a reality. Let us build bridges of love.