Coronavirus is not a punishment from God – Cardinal Turkson

Peter Cardinal Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, has pointed out that the Coronavirus pandemic facing the world today is not as a result of any punishment from the Almighty God.

According to him, the world has had some kind of pandemic which is even more serious than this novel Coronavirus which took the lives of

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“This is not the first incident of a viral attack on humanity in history…the Spanish flu [1918-1919] killed about 40-100 million people…this was believed to have been introduced by US allies military from Texas but the result was that several people lost their lives…so such a thing has happened before…,” Cardinal Turkson said on Sunday Night with Kwaku Sakyi-Addo.

He added that the fact that such disasters [medical/health] are happening to mankind in 2020 cannot be attributed to divine castigation of humanity.

“We are not going that lane. That Pope is not taking that position that God is chastising us or God is punishing us…why does God allow us in our freedom to allow certain things to happen?” Cardinal Turkson quizzed.

And then answered: “What began as a healthcare issue is also economic, ecological and political…”

“When we disturb our biodiversity structures and systems to a certain point, we unleash several factors in nature which can take the form of diseases and sicknesses,” he explained.

To Cardinal Turkson, therefore, the outbreak of COVID-19 “is not a castigation or plague from God; it is [the] stuff of nature which invites us to respect nature and to be careful about what we do.”

He stressed that God should not be blamed for something that was created by mankind. "Therefore, humanity must respect systems and structures, so that they can maintain our lives.’

The programme, hosted by Kwaku Sakyi-Addo on Asaase Radio 99.5MhZ of Accra, was broadcast on Sunday.