COVID-19’s theological and ethical challenges

Abstract

In this text, the author reflects on the pandemic of COVID-19 as something that tests not only public health, but institutions, scientific knowledge, people and common interests and brings up the concept of vulnerability and other ethical issues. In the wake of this pathogen others appear, such as the fake news virus, fundamentalist and apocalyptic speeches, profit at the expense of the suffering of others, the upsurge of mystasy due to the social abyss caused by poverty, medical dilemmas (as they have to choose who lives and who dies, due to the collapse in the health system), the violation of the principle of responsibility, the increase in violence and intolerance towards the "others" and the minorities, and the corporatism of rich countries on liberating the vaccine for poor countries. From these elements, the ethical lessons that can be learned from the pandemic emerge: the care for a planet hurt by the lack of care, that a virus can be more lethal than a war, solidarity, the development of citizenship, volatilization of the concept of security, taking care of Oikos and valuing science based on ethics. The learning of this time and its application in our common home will make a big difference in the future.