Vatican City, Mar 11, 2020
/ 11:19 am (CNA).- Car-
dinal Peter Turkson sent
a message Wednesday
encouraging Catholics to see the
sacrifices required to slow the spread
of coronavirus as a chance to deepen
their relationships with God and their
neighbors.
“Prayer is our strength, prayer is our
resource. Here then is the favorable
moment to rediscover the fatherhood
of God and our being children,” Turk-
son said in the March 11 message.
He encouraged “the most tested
communities” to not experience
“everything as a privation.”
For those who cannot gather for the
celebration of Mass, he said, “we are
called to an even more deeply rooted
journey on what sustains the spiritual
life: prayer, fasting, and charity.”
“If we cannot meet in our assem-
blies to live our faith together, as we
usually do, God offers us the oppor-
tunity to enrich ourselves, to discover
new paradigms, and to find personal
relationships with Him again,” he
said.
The prefect of the Dicastery for
Promoting Integral Human Devel-
opment, Turkson addressed his letter
to health workers, chaplains, the sick
and their families, volunteers, civil
authorities, bishops in charge of pas-
toral work in healthcare, the heads of
bishops’ conferences, and all people
of good will.
His message was sent as countries
around the world increase measures
to fight the spread of coronavirus.
In Italy, public Masses were canceled
starting March 8. Most dioceses in
Japan have also suspended public
Masses.
Worldwide, there are 109,577
confirmed cases of coronavirus, and
3,809 deaths.
The new strain of coronavirus caus-
es a respiratory disease, COVID-19,
and has a fatality rate of roughly 3%.
The vast majority of cases and deaths
have been in China.
In his message, the cardinal re-
minded Catholics of Christ’s words
in Matthew’s Gospel: “when you pray,
go to your inner room, close the door,
and pray to your Father in secret. And
your Father who sees in secret will
repay you.”
He also recalled the many times
Pope Francis has encouraged Catho-
lics to keep the Bible nearby and to
pray with scripture.
“The effort made to contain the
spread of Coronavirus is accompa-
nied by the commitment of each
individual faithful for the greater
good: the reconquest of life, the defeat
of fear, the triumph of hope,” he said.
The cardinal noted the importance
of solidarity during this time and
asked people to think of their “neigh-
bor, office colleague, school friend,
but above all the doctors and nurses
who risk contamination and infection
to save the infected.”
Turkson asked political and
economic authorities to not neglect
social justice amid the new econom-
ic crisis caused by the virus and to
continue to look for ways to support
health workers all over the world,
especially in the places in most
difficulty.
“So let us pray to God the Father
to increase our faith, help the sick in
healing and support health workers in
their mission,” the cardinal said.
“We ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate
the efforts of scientists, health work-
ers and governments, and we entrust
all the populations affected by the
contagion to the intercession of the
Virgin Mary, Mother of humanity.”
