Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) - The Argentine Bishops' Conference (CEA) has announced a National Day of Prayer for those who died due to Covid-19, inviting all the communities of the country to join in prayer on Friday, July 23, "to ask the Lord for the eternal rest of the victims and the consolation and strength for their families and friends".
In presenting the initiative, the Bishops invite to celebrate Mass for the dead in all cathedrals, parishes, chapels and cemeteries on this day, as well as organizing "other moments of prayer to remember in particular the dead of each community, inviting family members to participate in presence or virtually, according to local possibilities and initiatives, in compliance with health regulations".
The statement of the executive commission of CEA, sent to Fides, concludes by hoping that "faith in the dead and risen Christ renews our hope and strengthens us in this difficult situation, uniting us in pain for the losses and in the trust of God's mercy".
The National Secretariat for the Liturgy has prepared some "guidelines and proposals" for the celebrations of this day. The handout presents guidelines for the Mass for the dead (prayers, biblical readings, prayers ...) and a celebration plan to be held in community or even within the family.
With a population of 44.94 million inhabitants, Argentina has 4,769,142 infected with Covid-19 and 101,955 dead. In the recent final document of the Social Week 2021 (see Fides, 17/7/2021), it is written that "the Covid-19 pandemic does not stop, new strains appear, new variants, and it will take a long time for vaccination on a global scale to make us think of a return to normality. This pandemic has hit everyone in the health, social, economic, educational, family, and especially the most vulnerable population very hard. Inequality even manifests itself in the distribution of vaccines". (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 20/7/2021)