As the coronavirus spreads in the Middle East, first cases reported in Syria and Gaza

“The Christian is a Christian not because he can show the faith of baptism: the faith of baptism is an ID card. You are a Christian if you say yes to the election that God has made of you, if you go behind the promises that the Lord has made to you and if you live a covenant with the Lord: this is Christian life.

The epidemic affects all of Abraham's children and questions those who wonder if Islam is the only true religion, because the virus affects Muslims. The extremists are silent and the joint initiatives between the faithful of the three religions are multiplying.

Being a disciple means letting oneself be guided by the Holy Spirit. For this reason, a disciple of Jesus is someone of Tradition and novelty, a free person, never subject to ideologies.

“We cannot forget the tragedies of our day, because the Passion of the Lord continues in the suffering of men. May your hearts find, in the Cross of Christ, support and comfort in the midst of the tribulations of life".

Jesus came into the world to take our sins on himself and on the cross he really suffered and died. "We have to get used to looking at the crucifix in this light, which is the truest, it is the light of redemption".

“Each of us has our own sins. And if you don't remember them, think a little: you will find them. Thank God if you find them, because if you don't find them, you are corrupt. Each of us has our own sins. We look to the Lord who does justice but who is so merciful ".

At the Angelus, Pope Francis joins the UN secretary general’s appeal because "in countries at war, health systems have collapsed and already reduced health personnel, have often been targeted". A renewed commitment to overcoming rivalries. “Conflicts are not resolved through war!”. Prayer for the sick in nursing homes, for barracks, for prisoners. The explosive problem of overcrowding in prisons. "God's answer to the problem of death is Jesus: 'I am the resurrection and the life'." The Christian is "a reflection of the love and tenderness of God, who frees from death and gifts the victory of life!"

During mass in the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis prayed for those who weep: “isolated people, people in quarantine; the elderly alone; hospitalized people and people in therapy; parents who see that since there is no salary, they will not be able to feed their children. " Ask for "the grace to cry", like "Jesus who was not ashamed to cry".

"We pray for families who are beginning to feel the need because of the pandemic." “I often think: they are good people - priests, nuns - who lack the courage to go and serve the poor. Something is missing. What these people were missing, the doctors of the Law. They lost their memory, they lost what Jesus felt in his heart: that he was part of his own people ".

The pontiff holds an "extraordinary moment of prayer" for the end of the coronavirus epidemic. "The Lord asks us and, in the midst of our tempest,” urges to show solidarity and have hope, above all to be converted. “It is a time to get our lives back on track with regard to” the Lord and others.

The devil is responsible for the cruelty against the righteous and for anti-Christian persecution. “Let us think of how the devil treated Jesus with cruelty, but also persecuted Christians; how he tried the most sophisticated means to lead them to apostasy, to move away from God. This is, as we say in everyday language, diabolical; indeed, [it is a] diabolical mind.”

During the epidemic, the dead were cremated immediately, without ceremonies and without specifying the cause of death. Now family members are waiting to bury the urns containing the ashes of their loved ones. About 45,000 urnes will be distributed in Wuhan alone. The number of coronavirus deaths in China is deliberately underestimated. In the days of the peak of the epidemic, the crematory ovens worked for 19 hours a day. Journalists Li Zehua, Fang Bin, Chen Qiushi have disappeared. Photos and videos of queues at Funeral Parlors and cemeteries are blocked on social media.

“Idolatry leads people towards the wrong religiosity; indeed, many times worldliness, which is a [form of] idolatry, makes people turn the celebration of a sacrament into a worldly feast.” Like a wedding. “People don’t know if it is a sacrament – where newlyweds really give their all, love each other before God, promise to be faithful before God, and receive the grace of God – or a catwalk of models” centred on “how they are dressed, one and the other”.

The Congregation for Divine Worship issued a decree with "general indications" for Holy Week celebrations. Services will be held without people. “Means of live (not recorded) telematic broadcasts can be of help.”