Rome Newsroom, Jul 3, 2020 / 07:10 am
A cardinal in northern Italy said Friday that the COVID-19 health crisis has created "immense" poverty in the area, and now is the time to rebuild, to take responsibility, and to share resources.
Indications from local charities and soup kitchens show that poverty in Bologna right now is "immense," Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the city's archbishop, told journalists July 3. "The economic crisis has already started."
"We should have a sense of great closeness, of solidarity, of sharing," he said.
Zuppi, who was made a cardinal by Pope Francis last October, spoke to journalists in an informal online meeting organized by the Iscom Association. Since 2015, Zuppi has led the Archdiocese of Bologna, which is located in northern Italy, one of the regions worst hit by the novel coronavirus, with more than 28,000 total cases and 4,200 deaths.