The Christian Churches in Switzerland, that is the Catholic bishops’ conference, the Calvinist Church and the Old Catholic Church in Switzerland, have issued an ecumenical Easter appeal to the Swiss government calling on it to take in unaccompanied minor refugees from the camps in Greece who have relations in Switzerland as quickly as possible (writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt). “We appeal to the Bundesrat (the Federal Council of Switzerland) in the coming days to set a clear sign of hope and to take in these vulnerable and endangered young refugees from the Greek camps as asylum seekers,” the appeal, which was published on 10 April, said. The situation on the Greek islands, where tens of thousands of refugees had to live under totally degrading conditions in closed and sealed off camps, was “catastrophic” and was rapidly getting worse due to the coronavirus, the Churches said. The fact that Europe had not yet found a common answer to the refugee catastrophe in no way relieved the political system in Switzerland of its responsibility, the Churches declared. According to the Schengen Agreement and the Dublin Convention, Switzerland is co-reponsible for the situation of the refugees and the local population.
The coronavirus outbreak in Egypt “is bringing Christians and Muslims closer together, united against this virus”, Fr Rafic Greiche, head of the media committee of the Council of Churches of Egypt, has said. He reports that “young Christians and Muslims are delivering medicine to the elderly and visiting the homes of needy families to bring help”. He said the Egyptian government was facing the crisis “with great resolution”. A curfew is in place and all places of worship closed. Christian Masses and the Muslim call to prayer are broadcast online. The virus has claimed the lives of more than 150 Egyptians. Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia, a Muslim governor has called on people to turn to Our Lady to find strength to overcome the Covid-19 outbreak. Turki Bin Talal, governor of the province of ‘Asir, suggested the Virgin Mary and her son, Jesus, show how to “face the struggle with courage and determination”. Saudi Arabia has recorded more than 40 Covid-19 deaths and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina have been sealed off.
In his Easter letter to the Chaldean community, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, Archbishop of Baghdad, urged the faithful to use the experience of the coronavirus pandemic to go “from suffering to freedom, from selfishness to altruism, and from isolation to fraternal solidarity”. Citing Pope Francis’s encyclica Laudato Si', he said it is time “for a comprehensive plan to build a peaceful and prosperous world, where social justice can be applied and clean environment can be sustained”.
In their Easter message, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches of Jerusalem talked of "a time of renewal of hope", moving away from “oppression, discrimination, hunger, and injustice”. In a deserted Jerusalem they pronounced that, “nothing will hinder the Good News of the Resurrection from resounding in Jerusalem and any other part of our world, even if this year there are no loud Alleluias”.
Yemen is seeing a two-week ceasefire, declared by Saudi Arabia in a move designed to show its awareness of the threat the coronavirus poses to a war-torn country with limited health services. Theresa Alessandro, Director of Pax Christi, welcomed the news, saying “we hope all parties in the conflict will demonstrate a real commitment to end the violence now and seek a just peace”. No Covid-19 cases have been reported in Yemen.
Meanwhile,Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio diocese in South Sudan supported the appeal by Pope Francis, for “global and immediate ceasefire in all corners of the world”. He said of South Sudan that “we are unable to endure other wars, we have no more strength, people are destroyed, homeless”.
The Sandinista government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has refrained from implementing the strict social distancing measures that other countries have adopted to combat Covid-19. On 5 April Rolando José Alvarez, the Bishop of Matagalpa, announced an initiative to open six Prevention Centres in the district but later that day, he posted on Twitter that the Health Ministry had blocked him from going forward with the plan.
In Mexico City, the Passion of the Christ passion play was held on Good Friday in the working-class borough of Iztapalapa, but with no members of the public present. The tradition began in 1843 and usually up to two million people attend. The event was broadcast live on television and online.
On Good Friday, a 15-year-old from the Yanomami indigenous territory of Brazil died after contracting the coronavirus. It is unclear how the contagion happened. Nationwide, there have been 1,223 deaths from Covid-19, with two indigenous Brazilians succumbing.
Concern for immigrants being held in detention centres throughout the United States has prompted calls for their immediate release. Catholic charities are also calling for the government to relax all enforcement of immigration laws until the pandemic has passed. Catholic advocacy groups have called for cash assistance to migrants akin to what is being provided to US citizens.
Sri Lanka’sCatholic Church has forgiven the suicide bombers behind the attacks that killed more than 250 people last Easter. On Sunday, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, told an Easter Mass broadcast from a TV studio because of the coronavirus pandemic that “we offered love to the enemies who tried to destroy us” and “we forgave them”. The terrorists bombed three churches and several hotels on Easter Sunday 2019. This year, closed-door Easter services were conducted at two of the churches attacked.
Across Italy,the coronavirus has claimed the lives of almost 100 Catholic priests, many elderly and retired, but also priests ministering to the sick. In the Holy Thursday Mass in an empty St Peter’s Basilica, a day when priests renew their priestly vows, Pope Francis paid tribute to them, calling the priests, “the saints next door”.
Catholics for Trump was launched last week as part of US President Donald Trump’s re-election effort. Although white evangelicals are considered Trump’s base, white Catholics have tended to vote more like white evangelicals in recent years and, unlike evangelicals, white Catholics constitute a disproportionate part of the electorate in three key swing states: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Pro-life activist Fr Frank Pavone, one of the leaders of the group, fended off charges that the president’s anti-abortion stance is off-set by his anti-immigrant policies. “He’s protecting our people by strengthening borders, not to stop immigration but to stop crime, to protect families, to protect neighbourhoods,” Pavone said.
On Good Friday, Cardinal Oswald Gracias blessed the city of Mumbai with a relic of the “true cross”, a gift from the city of Brescia and the family of St Paul VI. Maharashtra is the Indian state most affected by the coronavirus outbreak.A Way of the Cross was livestreamed from the Cathedral of the Holy Name, and the blessing given at the end.
Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, Archbishop of Lagos, has said that Covid-19 highlights the shortcomings of Nigeria’s healthcare facilities caused by corruption. “By the time low-grade leadership combines with big government and the seemingly irresistible tendency to steal and or waste Nigeria’s money, you find a country whose hospitals are reduced to mere consultation rooms,” Cardinal Okogie reflected last week. Throughout Nigeria, Catholic health facilities have been made available for tackling the virus.
Peru has seen nearly 200 deaths from the coronavirus, and Lima Catholic archdiocese issued a Holy Week video reflecting on the heroism of health workers and others “offering their lives in love”. “Perhaps there will be no processions with carved images, but now you see Christ meeting you amid life,” it said.
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