The culture of care or the “culture of discarding and consumerism” assures “we cannot be neutral” said Pope Francis to a group of pharmacists as they have to opt to grow up a culture of care.
The Holy Father received at the Vatican the employees of “Apoteca Natura”, whom he reminded that “indigenous peoples have left a rich heritage of natural therapies.”
He also thanked those present for the “creative way of doing business and generating employment based on a totally ecological intuition”.
Likewise, he lamented that “the figure of the family doctor has almost disappeared, and there is a risk that, in order to privilege ‘excellence’, the good quality of territorial health services will be neglected.”
“Or that they become so bureaucratic and computerized that the elderly or the poorly educated are effectively excluded or marginalized,” he added.
Faced with this situation, the Pope stressed that pharmacies “can satisfy a real need of the population by compensating for certain deficiencies.”
“It could be summed up in two words: harmony and care,” Pope Francis explained later.
In this line, he said that “the culture of consumption and discard go together” and defended that “then there is the culture of care, on the other hand”.
“We have to choose: there is no other way forward! Today we are not allowed to remain neutral,” the Pope requested.
“You have to choose, because the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor demand responsibility,” he said afterwards.
In addition, he assured that “the culture of consumerism and waste is widespread and conditions many of our daily behaviors.”
“And also the culture of care is expressed in many small and large choices, which each one is called to make, according to the role he occupies”, he stressed.
Finally, Pope Francis called for “an economy centered on the person and the common good.”