Vatican diplomat welcomes WHO pandemic agreement, emphasizes health care is human right
May 22, 2025
Addressing the 78th World Health Assembly, a leading Vatican diplomat said on May 21 that “the right to health is a fundamental human right, based on the inherent God given dignity of every person,” and that “health care is not a privilege for the few, but a right for all.”
“At a time of heightened global tensions, as conflicts and wars are intensifying, climate change and environmental degradation worsen, and poverty increases, the right to health, including access to quality and affordable health care, is undeniably being compromised and remains out of reach for too many people, especially in developing countries,” said Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland.
In an apparent reference to President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), the prelate called for “a path grounded in multilateral cooperation, social justice, and unity, rather than isolationism, nationalism, or exclusion.”
Archbishop Balestrero said that the Holy See welcomed the adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement and called on member states to “work urgently and constructively” towards the completion of an annex to the agreement, the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) Annex.
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