Bishop Beschi: Bergamo always
in the heart of the Pope
 |
| Hearses arriving at Bergamo's Monumentale cemetary (ANSA) |
The northern Italian city of Bergamo is the hardest hit by
the coronavirus or Covid-19 pandemic in Europe. Pope Francis called Bishop
Francesco Beschi of Bergamo on the phone to express his closeness to the
people.
By Robin Gomes
Pope Francis has Bergamo in his heart and prays for its
people every day, said Bishop Francesco Beschi of the northern Italian
city. In a post on the diocesan website, the bishop said that the Holy
Father called him on the phone on Wednesday to express his support and sympathy
for one of Italy's communities hardest hit by the coronavirus.
The Holy Father, he said, was “very affectionate in showing
his paternal closeness to me, to the priests, to the sick, to those who care
for them and to all our community," the bishop told Vatican Radio.
Although he was "very well informed", the bishop
continued, the Pope asked for details about the situation the people are living
through. He said the Pope was greatly struck by the number of dead and the
social distancing that families and their members are forced to go through in
such a painful way.
“He begged me to bring to each and every one his blessing
that comforts and bears grace, light and strength.”
Close to the sick
Pope Francis expressed his closeness to the sick and
"to all those who in different ways are working heroically for the good of
others: doctors, nurses, civil and health authorities and law enforcement
agencies".
The Pope also had a special “thank you” for priests.
He was struck not only by the sheer number of dead and the hospitalized but was
also greatly “impressed in a positive way by the pastoral imagination with
which every possible form of closeness to families, the elderly and children
has been invented as a sign of God's own closeness", Bishop Beschi said.
Through its Guardian Angel Foundation, Bergamo Diocese is
offering a telephone helpline to provide psychological or spiritual support to
those in need. Priests, consecrated persons, lay people and psychologists
or psychotherapists serving as diocesan family consultors are running the
service.
Pope’s solicitude
“Pope Francis has promised that he will carry us in
his heart and in his daily prayers.”
"This delicate gesture of his thoughtfulness and his
blessing as a father,” the bishop noted, “was an echo, a continuation, a
concrete realization for me, and I am convinced, for the entire diocese and for
each one of us, of that caress of our Saint Pope John XXIII whom we invoked
yesterday in prayer and which nature is giving back to us with the first shoots
of spring.”
Italy – Lombardy – Bergamo
Italy is the worst-affected country in the world and in
Europe outside of China, where the infection rate appears to have slowed
down. Most of the cases in Italy are concentrated in the northern Lombardy
region, Bergamo having the worst caseload.
The country on Wednesday registered 475 deaths, the highest
in a single day. Averaging more than 350 deaths a day since March
15, Italy is nearing China’s 3,249 dead.
Out of the country’s 28,710 positive cases, Lombardy has
12,266, with Bergamo province alone totalling 4,305.
At least 10 priests have died in Italy because of the virus
last week, more than half of them from the Diocese of Bergamo. In a radio
interview on Monday, Bishop Beschi said that 20 of his priests were
hospitalized and 6 had died. “The number of priests who have died this
week and that of those who are still in a particularly serious situation is
very high,” he added.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét