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Easter during the Corona crisis: Pope Francis makes a surprise call to the TV presenter

2020-04-11T13:28:45.340Z


The Corona virus also poses a major challenge for the Catholic Church - for this Easter celebration, Pope Francis is hardly anything ordinary.


The Corona virus also poses a major challenge for the Catholic Church - for this Easter celebration, Pope Francis is hardly anything ordinary.

  • Because of the Corona crisis , Easter celebrations in the Vatican cannot take place as usual.
  • This time Pope Francis prayed in a special way on Good Friday .
  • He also surprised a TV presenter with a phone call .
  • Here you will find our guide to corona reporting * and the basic facts * about the corona virus . You can also find current case numbers in Germany here as a map * .

Vatican City - It was an unusual picture: Pope Francis prayed the Way of the Cross on Good Friday on St. Peter's Square in the Vatican in Rome, which was almost empty - because of the Corona pandemic * . Otherwise thousands of pilgrims take part in the procession at the Colosseum. The pontiff was accompanied only by five prisoners in the northern Italian city of Padua, severely affected by the pandemic, and five doctors and nurses from the Vatican.

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Pope Francis leads the ceremony of the Way of the Cross on St. Peter's Square.

© dpa / Alessandra Tarantino

The presence of nurses was to pay tribute to the victims of the corona pandemic * , which claimed almost 19,000 lives in Italy. The crossroad meditations were written this year by prisoners, a judge and parents, whose daughter was murdered. As with all celebrations, the faithful had to make do with live broadcasts on the Internet and on the radio this year.

Pope Francis on Covid 19 Victims: "Like Soldiers at the Front"

Francis had previously compared the nurses who died in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic * with soldiers in the war . The "doctors, nurses, nurses, nuns and priests" who died in the course of their work "fell like soldiers at the front," he said in a live broadcast on Italian television. "They gave their lives out of love."

The Good Friday call on the live TV show attracted attention. "You recognized my voice ..." asked the 83-year-old church leader at the beginning of the call. Moderator Lorena Bianchetti said yes. She stood in the studio, clapped her hands and greeted Francis "with all my heart". The broadcaster called it a surprise call, and the Vatican released the short conversation text on Friday evening.

More on the topic in the video: Pope Francis not suffering from the corona virus

Corona crisis: Pope Francis causes a stir with a phone call

Francis said he was thinking about the victims of the pandemic, including many doctors, nurses, nurses, nuns and priests, around Easter. "Easter always ends with resurrection and peace, but it is not a happy ending," said the pontiff with a view to the tough days of the Corona crisis * . "It is really a compromise, the commitment of love that makes you take this hard path, but He has traveled it before, and that consoles us and gives us strength."

"Sono vicino ai più sofferenti, al dolore nel mondo ma guardando la speranza, che non delude"
La telefonata di #PapaFrancesco oggi # 10aprile a # ASuaImmagine # Rai1 # venerdìsanto pic.twitter.com/lIbP2nbIh9

- Rai1 (@RaiUno) April 10, 2020

The Argentinian, known as spontaneous, had been the subject of conversation with telephone calls for years. So he rang the bell at critical journalists or at a young letter writer * . He became known as a frequent caller and self-dialer.

dpa / AFP / frs

* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-04-11

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