Seven Italian priests have reportedly died of coronavirus

March 15, 2020 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Cremona, Italy, Mar 15, 2020 / 09:58 am (CNA).- Seven priests have reportedly died in Italy of the COVID-19 coronavirus. They are the first priests known to have died from the virus, now a global pandemic which has struck Italy more gravely than nearly any other country in the world.

Among them Monsignor Vincenzo Rini was a priest of the Diocese of Cremona, close to Milan, and near Italy’s epicenter of the pandemic.

In addition to Rini, 6 priests in the Diocese of Bergamo have reportedly died of the coronavirus, according to bergamonews.it.

Bergamo’s Bishop Francesco Bechi told Italian journalists that in addition to six priests in his diocese who have died of the virus, 20 others have been hospitalized.

Bergamo, a city northest of Milan, has been identified as the region most afflicted by infections of coronavirus in the country.

Msgr. Rini ran Cremona’s diocesan newspaper for 30 years, and was at one time the president of the Italian bishops’ news agency. He was also a novelist, and a noted literary expert, who served as the Church’s liaison to the Cristina di Savoia Cultural Congresses, which aim to promote Christian culture in Italy.

In Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference, journalistic colleagues of Rini wrote that the priest “represented an open window to hope, the virtue that had always characterized his life.”

He will be buried in the chapel of the diocesan cemetery in Cremona. Bishop Antonio Napolioni of Cremona, himself recovering from coronavirus, expressed his condolences to the family and friends of the priest.

More than 21,000 people in Italy have been infected with coronavirus, and nearly 1,500 have died.

Priests in other countries have also been afflicted with coronavirus. Earlier this month, a French priest was hospitalized with the virus, and last week a priest in Peru was among the first patients to be hospitalized for coronavirus in that country.

This story is developing and has been updated after publication.

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India bishops slam ‘brutal’ disruption of Good Friday service

April 21, 2017 CNA Daily News 0

Rome, Italy, Apr 21, 2017 / 10:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- India’s Catholic bishops have strongly condemned a violent police disruption of a Good Friday service at a small parish in the south of the country.

The Dhalit Catholic community in the village of Sogandi was holding a liturgy for the Passion of the Lord April 14 when they were disrupted by the Tehsildar – local tax and revenue officers – as well as police during the Veneration of the Cross and distribution of Holy Communion.

“The Catholic Church in India is very distressed and saddened by the happenings in Sogandi, Tamil Nadu, on Good Friday, a day very sacred to Christians everywhere,” the April 19 press release stated.

“The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India expresses its full solidarity with the people of Sogandi and condemns in very strong terms the brutal action of the Tehsildar.”

The statement, signed by the secretary general of the bishops’ conference, Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, SFX, said that they are proud of their country and the major part of the Hindu community has always treated them with respect and goodwill.

However, recently, fundamentalist forces have disturbed “the traditional peace and harmony” of the country, they said.

The bishops expressed concern at rising intolerance in India toward people of all religions from “fundamentalist fringe” groups, calling on the government to ensure that everyone in the country continue to feel safe and “enjoy the basic right to worship freely and without fear.”

Concern about religious intolerance has grown across India particularly since the May 2014 election of Narendra Modi as prime minister, which saw a spike in the number of attacks against Christians and Muslims.

After Modi took office the country saw a sharp rise in attacks against people and property, most of them perpetrated by the radical Hindu group Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, also referred to as the RSS, or the “the Sangh.”

The group, which has been described as “fundamentalist” and “violent,” sits on the right-wing and has no official, legal registration in India. However they maintain strong ties with India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Modi has been criticized for his silence regarding the mostly small-scale attacks, which have continued to take place.

The event in Sogandi on Good Friday was only the latest in a string of escalating anti-Christian incidents in the village, Bishop A. Neethinathan of Chingleput wrote in a report April 19.

The Catholic parish there, under the patronage of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, was erected in 2007. It has 125 families, who also make up the population of the village.

In order to help foster strong Marian devotion, when the parish was built 10 years ago, the priest also developed a portion of a nearby hill into a little grotto with a covering and a statue of Our Lady.

The grotto and other public religious symbols have been at the center of the clashes between the Christian village and a nearby Hindu village, also of a different caste identity. The Hindu village is known to have temples and houses erected on the other side of the same hill, Bishop Neethinathan stated.

On April 14, the parish gathered at the grotto at 3 PM to celebrate the Lord’s Passion service. Many police were stationed around the area throughout the service, the bishop’s report states.

As the service continued, the local Tehsildar disrupted the Veneration of the Cross and the distribution of Holy Communion, not allowing them to finish.

The disturbance and subsequent disorder resulted in reactions from some of those present. Most of the local men, as well as some priests, have been booked for serious offences by the police, Bishop Neethinathan wrote.

The following day, April 15, the revenue department bulldozed large ditches around the area, preventing access.

It is believed that the recent incidents are the result of planned and systematic operations by anti-Christian Hindutva and anti-Dhalit caste fundamentalists, including pressure on the police and revenue departments.

Other recent actions include the demolition and removal from the hill Dec. 31, 2016 of many of the statues and crosses of the parish by more than 500 police officers “under the pretext of illegal occupation,” according to Bishop Neethinathan. The statues were not returned until April 19.

In February, every stone and boulder on the hill was found marked with the Hindu symbol and the Palm Sunday procession, though able to conclude, was also interrupted by objections and disturbances.

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