POOL/AFP / YARA NARDI
In a historic first, the pope said prayers to an empty Saint Peter's Square
Pope Francis stood alone in vast Saint Peter's Square Friday to bless Catholics around the world suffering under the coronavirus pandemic, urging people to ease their fears through faith.
"Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities; it has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void, that stops everything as it passes by," he said.
In a historic first, the Argentine performed the rarely recited "Urbi et Orbi" blessing from the steps of the basilica to an empty square, addressing those in lockdown across the globe via television, radio and social media.
"We find ourselves afraid and lost," he said in a homily ahead of the blessing, as he stood under a canopy protecting him from a downpour.
He described the coronavirus "tempest" which he said had put everybody "in the same boat".
The hour had come to "reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering", he said.
- 'Did not listen' -
The blessing -- which translates as "To the City (Rome) and the World" -- is usually given on just three occasions: when a pope is elected, and each year at Christmas and Easter.
The pontiff traditionally speaks out against armed conflicts around the globe before delivering the Urbi et Orbi blessing.
But on Friday, the COVID-19 pandemic which has already killed more than 23,000 people was in his sights -- and humanity's errors and lack of faith leading up to the crisis.
"We have gone ahead at breakneck speed, feeling powerful and able to do anything. Greedy for profit, we let ourselves get caught up in things, and lured away by haste," said Francis in his homily.
"We were not shaken awake by wars or injustice across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the poor or of our ailing planet. We carried on regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick."
Today was not "the time of your judgement," the Pope clarified, but rather a time for people to focus on the important, "a time to separate what is necessary from what is not."
- 'Forgotten people' -
The pontiff saluted "ordinary people – often forgotten people" who are showing courage and selflessness in the current crisis, citing doctors and nurses, supermarket employers, police forces, volunteers, priests and nuns.
And at the end of the service, Francis granted Catholics the chance to have a rare remission for the punishment of sins.
Earlier this month, when the Italian capital was already in lockdown, Francis made a solitary pilgrimage to two of the city's churches.
At one, he borrowed a crucifix believed to have saved Rome from plague in the 16th century. On Friday, that crucifix was placed in front of Saint Peter's.
"During the plague in the Middle Ages, the Church was the only visible presence in public, through the processions of priests who were supposed to produce miracles," Vatican expert Marco Politi told AFP.
"The Pope wants to recapture a part of that scene and of the collective imagination," he said.
The head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics is a high-risk subject for the virus himself. Since coming down with a cold late last month, the 83-year-old has remained largely secluded within the Vatican.
Italian media reported that the pope had tested negative for coronavirus after a prelate who lived at his residence -- a guest house in the Vatican -- was hospitalised on Wednesday with the virus.
"The anti-contagion cordon has been tight around the pope for weeks," La Stampa daily wrote.
The Vatican has only officially reported four positive cases of the coronavirus within the tiny city state, without confirming the alleged case in the guest house.
Pope gives special prayer for COVID-19 victims, healthcare workers
By Danielle Haynes
Pope Francis prays on the sagrato of St. Peter's Square to deliver a special Urbi et Orbi blessing to the world Friday. Photo by Stefano Spaziani/UPI | License Photo
March 27 (UPI) -- Pope Francis gave a special prayer Friday evening in the Vatican, seeking an end to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed nearly 27,000 people.
He celebrated the Urbi et Orbi blessing, which is normally held only on Christmas and Easter, in a deserted St. Peter's Square. The prayer was live streamed on TV, the radio and online.
"We find ourselves afraid and lost," the pope said. "We were caught off-guard by an unexpected, turbulent storm. We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented ... all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other."
The blessing came as Italy reported its highest single-day death toll increase Friday -- 919. The country's overall death toll as of Friday evening was 9,100, and case total was 86,000, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
As part of the blessing, Pope Francis granted plenary indulgences to those with COVID-19, as well as those in quarantine and healthcare workers.
He said God asks the faithful "to reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering."
"Because this is God's strength: turning to the good everything that happens to us, even the bad things. He brings serenity into our storms, because with God life never dies."
Pope holds dramatic solitary service for relief from coronavirus
Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said the coronavirus had put everyone “in the same boat” as he held a dramatic, solitary prayer service in St. Peter’s Square on Friday, urging the world to see the crisis as a test of solidarity and a reminder of basic values.
“Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities,” he said, speaking from the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica into an eerily empty and rainy square before delivering an extraordinary “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing - something he normally does only twice a year.
“It has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void that stops everything as it passes by; we feel it in the air...We find ourselves afraid and lost,” he said.
The Vatican called the service “An Extraordinary Prayer in the Time of Pandemic,” a sombre echo of an announcement by Italian officials minutes earlier that the coronavirus death toll in the country had surged past 9,000.
In the United States, the total number of infections has topped 85,000, making it the world leader in confirmed cases.
Francis walked alone in the rain to a white canopy on the steps of the basilica and spoke sitting alone before a square where he normally draws tens of thousands of people but is now closed because of the pandemic.
“We have realized that we are in the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other,” he said.
Francis said the virus had exposed people’s vulnerability “to those false and superfluous certainties around which we have constructed our daily schedules”.
The leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Roman Catholics said God was asking everyone to “reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering.”
MAGICKAL FETISH OBJECT
He prayed before a wooden crucifix which is normally kept in a Rome church and brought to the Vatican for the special service.
According to tradition, a plague that hit Rome in 1522 began subsiding after the crucifix was taken around the streets of the Italian capital for 16 days in 1522.
Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Mark Heinrich
Pope Francis stood alone in vast Saint Peter's Square Friday to bless Catholics around the world suffering under the coronavirus pandemic, urging people to ease their fears through faith.
"Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities; it has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void, that stops everything as it passes by," he said.
In a historic first, the Argentine performed the rarely recited "Urbi et Orbi" blessing from the steps of the basilica to an empty square, addressing those in lockdown across the globe via television, radio and social media.
"We find ourselves afraid and lost," he said in a homily ahead of the blessing, as he stood under a canopy protecting him from a downpour.
He described the coronavirus "tempest" which he said had put everybody "in the same boat".
The hour had come to "reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering", he said.
- 'Did not listen' -
The blessing -- which translates as "To the City (Rome) and the World" -- is usually given on just three occasions: when a pope is elected, and each year at Christmas and Easter.
The pontiff traditionally speaks out against armed conflicts around the globe before delivering the Urbi et Orbi blessing.
But on Friday, the COVID-19 pandemic which has already killed more than 23,000 people was in his sights -- and humanity's errors and lack of faith leading up to the crisis.
"We have gone ahead at breakneck speed, feeling powerful and able to do anything. Greedy for profit, we let ourselves get caught up in things, and lured away by haste," said Francis in his homily.
"We were not shaken awake by wars or injustice across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the poor or of our ailing planet. We carried on regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick."
Today was not "the time of your judgement," the Pope clarified, but rather a time for people to focus on the important, "a time to separate what is necessary from what is not."
- 'Forgotten people' -
The pontiff saluted "ordinary people – often forgotten people" who are showing courage and selflessness in the current crisis, citing doctors and nurses, supermarket employers, police forces, volunteers, priests and nuns.
And at the end of the service, Francis granted Catholics the chance to have a rare remission for the punishment of sins.
Earlier this month, when the Italian capital was already in lockdown, Francis made a solitary pilgrimage to two of the city's churches.
At one, he borrowed a crucifix believed to have saved Rome from plague in the 16th century. On Friday, that crucifix was placed in front of Saint Peter's.
"During the plague in the Middle Ages, the Church was the only visible presence in public, through the processions of priests who were supposed to produce miracles," Vatican expert Marco Politi told AFP.
"The Pope wants to recapture a part of that scene and of the collective imagination," he said.
The head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics is a high-risk subject for the virus himself. Since coming down with a cold late last month, the 83-year-old has remained largely secluded within the Vatican.
Italian media reported that the pope had tested negative for coronavirus after a prelate who lived at his residence -- a guest house in the Vatican -- was hospitalised on Wednesday with the virus.
"The anti-contagion cordon has been tight around the pope for weeks," La Stampa daily wrote.
The Vatican has only officially reported four positive cases of the coronavirus within the tiny city state, without confirming the alleged case in the guest house.
Pope gives special prayer for COVID-19 victims, healthcare workers
By Danielle Haynes
Pope Francis prays on the sagrato of St. Peter's Square to deliver a special Urbi et Orbi blessing to the world Friday. Photo by Stefano Spaziani/UPI | License Photo
March 27 (UPI) -- Pope Francis gave a special prayer Friday evening in the Vatican, seeking an end to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed nearly 27,000 people.
He celebrated the Urbi et Orbi blessing, which is normally held only on Christmas and Easter, in a deserted St. Peter's Square. The prayer was live streamed on TV, the radio and online.
"We find ourselves afraid and lost," the pope said. "We were caught off-guard by an unexpected, turbulent storm. We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented ... all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other."
The blessing came as Italy reported its highest single-day death toll increase Friday -- 919. The country's overall death toll as of Friday evening was 9,100, and case total was 86,000, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
As part of the blessing, Pope Francis granted plenary indulgences to those with COVID-19, as well as those in quarantine and healthcare workers.
He said God asks the faithful "to reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering."
"Because this is God's strength: turning to the good everything that happens to us, even the bad things. He brings serenity into our storms, because with God life never dies."
Pope holds dramatic solitary service for relief from coronavirus
Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said the coronavirus had put everyone “in the same boat” as he held a dramatic, solitary prayer service in St. Peter’s Square on Friday, urging the world to see the crisis as a test of solidarity and a reminder of basic values.
“Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities,” he said, speaking from the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica into an eerily empty and rainy square before delivering an extraordinary “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing - something he normally does only twice a year.
“It has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void that stops everything as it passes by; we feel it in the air...We find ourselves afraid and lost,” he said.
The Vatican called the service “An Extraordinary Prayer in the Time of Pandemic,” a sombre echo of an announcement by Italian officials minutes earlier that the coronavirus death toll in the country had surged past 9,000.
In the United States, the total number of infections has topped 85,000, making it the world leader in confirmed cases.
Francis walked alone in the rain to a white canopy on the steps of the basilica and spoke sitting alone before a square where he normally draws tens of thousands of people but is now closed because of the pandemic.
“We have realized that we are in the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other,” he said.
Francis said the virus had exposed people’s vulnerability “to those false and superfluous certainties around which we have constructed our daily schedules”.
He praised doctors, nurses, supermarket employees, cleaners, care givers, transport workers, police, and volunteers, saying they, and not the world’s rich and famous, were “writing the decisive events of our time”.
The leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Roman Catholics said God was asking everyone to “reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering.”
MAGICKAL FETISH OBJECT
He prayed before a wooden crucifix which is normally kept in a Rome church and brought to the Vatican for the special service.
According to tradition, a plague that hit Rome in 1522 began subsiding after the crucifix was taken around the streets of the Italian capital for 16 days in 1522.
Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Mark Heinrich
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