– Fr Leonard Dollentas
The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Italy caused the government to consider “extraordinary measures” to fight the feared virus. Following the deaths of a good number of its citizens, the Italian authorities placed several towns on lockdown amid a large increase in the number of cases and deaths. In recent news, Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced that Italy will remain in full lockdown until May 3 “to stem the tide of new coronavirus infections.”
Despite the pandemic threat, the Italians have unique ways of enduring the period of isolation. They have discovered concrete and diverse ways of sharing, which nonetheless bring encouragement and solidarity to the families quarantined in their homes.
We were charmed by those YouTube videos where Italians leaned out of their balcony windows, sending their hearts and voices into the outside air to cheer others.
I found it especially enchanting how in one Italian neighborhood, a resident decided to convert his balcony to an improvised concert platform and played with his portable piano: What a Wonderful World to the delight of his neighbors. A moment later he was joined by another neighbor playing his sax on his balcony. Later they played Volare which almost brought the whole neighborhood into a frenzy singing the song’s lyrics with their distinct and amusing Italian uproar. When they stopped playing, a tenor from a top balcony started belting out Nessun Dorma which prompted young children in the whole neighborhood to cover their ears quickly. Those jolly moments somehow eased their pain and fear.
As they continue to face the pandemic, sad news circulates recounting that among those infected by the unseen virus, the most vulnerable and those who suffer most, being most affected are the elderly, the poor, the sick and the homeless. In many instances, they suffer and die alone. Hence, during his 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.”
But Pope Francis did not only send kind words. He has also given Caritas Italy €100,000 (around 868,242.72 MOP) through the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Development. The Pope’s kind gesture is a further boost to the Caritas Italy COVID-19 response following a €10 million (86,824,272.22 MOP) contribution to Caritas Italy by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI). The amounts are intended to help support Caritas Italy’s effort to help people especially the poor and vulnerable “suffering from the current COVID-19 epidemic, and to all those caring for them.”
In Milan, the city where the coronavirus is rampant, Caritas Milan has kept open the doors of its shelters, soup kitchens, and food pantries, with some health restrictions to help keep people safe. As the number of cases escalates and the Italian government ordered people to remain at home, the situation became harder and more unsafe for the people living on the streets. They had no way to comply with the mandate. It is at this difficult time that Caritas shelters become “home” for the homeless instead of the cold corners of the streets. In another report, the volunteers of the Catholic lay community of Sant’Egidio in Rome continuing to bring food to people living on the streets. They were also handing out facial tissues and hand sanitizer to the poor so they may be safe from the virus.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis points out that this is an opportunity to remind ourselves how indispensable solidarity is: “We were surprised by an unexpected and angry storm, but we realized we were in the same boat. In this boat we are all like the disciples who speak with one voice and, with anguish, say ‘we are lost.’ We also realize that we cannot go on our own, but only together” (Pope Francis, Rome, March 2020).
In other parts of Italy, the Catholic Church continue to work in the shadows, finding the broken body of Jesus in the cold streets, in the crowded hospitals, in the abandoned shelter for the old people and in every soul seeking the comfort of God.
Follow
