The coronavirus pandemic has brought about a watershed moment in human history, the Papal Preacher said today, when the world has an opportunity to embrace solidarity and turn its back on war and inequality.

Preaching beneath a wooden crucifix from the Church of San Marcello on the Corso, believed to have miraculously delivered Rome from a plague in 1522, that was still veiled ahead of its adoration later in the service, Fr Raniero Cantalamessa told Pope Francis and Catholics watching the service over the internet that this was the moment to realise Isaiah’s prophecy of world peace.

Speaking as the global death toll from the coronavirus exceeded 100,000, Fr Cantalamessa, a Franciscan Capuchin, said the world had never been as united as it was in the face of the pandemic.

“When, in the memory of humanity, have the people of all nations ever felt themselves so united, so equal, so less in conflict than at this moment of pain? Never so much as now have we experienced the truth of the words of one of our great poets: