In his prayer intention for April, the Holy Father defends the right of all people in the world to integral development, and prays particularly for those who risk their lives fighting for fundamental rights.
(Vatican City, April 6, 2021) – This month of April, The Pope Video, which presents the prayer intention that Pope Francis is entrusting to the entire Catholic Church through the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, deals with fundamental rights of all persons. Concretely, the Holy Father wants to emphasize not only “actively combatting poverty, inequality, the lack of work, land and housing, and the denial of social and labor rights,” but also those people who risk their lives every day to defend fundamental human rights in conflictive circumstances of every kind.
The images of The Pope Video for April seek to reflect the exercise of these fundamental rights—through the hands of countless men and women who work the land, who open doors, who heal, who eat, who study…—and the abuse of these same rights, seen in the hands of exploited children, and in the suffering hands of people imprisoned without a trial, among other critical situations. The video was made with the support of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations and the AVSI Foundation, a non-profit organization which implements development and humanitarian aid projects in 33 countries.When we speak of fundamental human rights, we are referring to rights that belong to all people, basically for the very fact that they exist as human beings. They are inherent in all people, regardless of their nationality, sex, ethnic or national origin, skin color, religion, language or any other condition. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948, was the first legal document to establish universal protection of fundamental human rights.Let us accompany The Pope Video for April with prayer, while highlighting the courage and determination of those who fight every day so that these fundamental human rights may be equally recognized for all, although for some people that struggle means putting their own life at risk.