Saturday, March 28, 2020
Pope held a dramatic solitary prayer for relief from coronavirus
Pope 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 which is now closed because of the pandemic.
The pontiff urges the world to see the coronavirus pandemic as a test of solidarity and a reminder of basic values.
Speaking into an eerily empty square before delivering an extraordinary “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing, the pontiff said on Friday that the health crisis put everyone “in the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented “.
“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.
