The Catholic Weekly 19 April 2020

14 19, April, 2020 W orld catholicweekly.com.au Vatican online soars ‘We forgive bombers’ Francis prays for women threatened by violence Massive numbers tuned in to ceremonies broadcast at Easter SRI LANKAN Catholics have forgiven the 2019 Easter su- icide attackers who brought terror to the island nation a year ago, said the cardinal of Colombo. “Not only did Catholics die, but the bombs killed Bud- dhists, Hindus and Muslims,” said Cardinal Malcolm Ran- jith as he celebrated Easter Mass 12 April. “It is human nature to hurt people through anger, but we have given up that human na- ture and chosen the life of the resurrection of the Lord. Res- urrection is the complete re- jection of selfishness,” the car- dinal said. His remarks were reported by ucanews.com. “We have taught them that lesson, not hating anyone in any way. This is what civili- sation means and that is the Resurrection.” Nine suicide bombers af- POPE FRANCIS highlight- ed the many ways women are caring for others during the coronavirus pandemic, but he also offered prayers for those facing an increased risk of do- mestic violence during the lockdowns. At midday on 13 April, af- ter reciting the “Regina Coeli” prayer livestreamed from the library of the Apostolic Pal- HOLY WEEK and Easter events broadcast and shared by Vatican media reached millions of people around the world, attracting new viewers, followers and fans inspired by Pope Francis’ words and ges- tures. “We have been struck by the many emails we have re- ceived, comments and posts on our social media from peo- ple, even agnostics and non- believers, who say they have been moved by the words and gestures of the Holy Fa- ther during this very difficult period,” Alessandro Gisotti, vice-editorial director of Vati- can media, said. Huge spikes in online visi- tors, views, follows and com- ments on their numerous platforms showed that “many people, not just the Catholic faithful, were able to follow and ‘encounter’ the Holy Fa- ther and, through him, the Word of God thanks to this technology and especially to streaming services and social media,” he said in response to a request for information about online engagement during Holy Week and Easter. Mr Gisotti told CNS that Vat- ican media outlets tried to put into practice that “creativity of love that the pope asks of us in order to overcome the isolation caused by the pandemic”. Their Vatican News site, which offers video, radio, pod- casts, images, news and au- dio services in more than 30 languages, saw its number of ¾ ¾ Carol Glatz A woman mourns near the grave of a suicide bombing victim in Sri Lanka in April 2019. PHOTO: CNS,A PERAWONGMETHA, REUTERS Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo said that Sri Lankan Catho- lics have forgiven the 2019 suicide attackers. PHOTO: CNS/PAUL HARING A couple watches Easter Mass celebrated by Pope Francis from their home in Northern Ireland. PHOTO: CNS/JASON CAIRNDUFF, REUTERS filiated with a local Islamist extremist group blasted three churches and three luxury ho- tels on 21 April, 2019, killing at least 279 people, including 37 foreign nationals, and in- juring about 500. They carried out coordinated bomb attacks ace, Pope Francis turned to the day’s Gospel reading and its account of the contrast be- tween the faith of the women disciples, who were certain Jesus rose from the dead, and the uncertainty of the men, who doubted their words. “Today,” he said, “I want to remember with you how much many women do – in- cluding in this time of a health emergency – to care for oth- ers: women doctors, nurses, visitors and page views quad- ruple from the same liturgical period last year. Nearly 5.5 million users registered more than 14.5 mil- lion views on the vaticannews. va website between 5 and 13 April versus Holy Week last year, which saw 1.5 million us- ers and some 3.5 million page views. Vatican News livestreamed all the major events on its YouTube channels with live commentary in six languages, plus, for the first time, a chan- nel featuring a sign-language interpreter. Easter events broadcast on YouTube, Gisotti said, had more than 2.1 million views. The social media accounts for Vatican News and Pope Francis also saw huge growth, he said. Over Holy Week the @ Pontifex Twitter accounts sur- passed 50 million followers, while the @Franciscus Ins- tagram accounts exceeded 7 million followers. The Vatican News Insta- gram account gained 27,000 new followers over HolyWeek, bringing them to more than 436,000 followers. Vatican News tweets, over its different Twitter accounts in six lan- guages, had 61 million views. There were almost 18 mil- lion viewers watching the live video feeds of Holy Week events on the Vatican News Facebook pages in different languages. The Good Friday Way of the Cross alone had more than 5 million viewers. - CNS at St. Sebastian Church in Ne- gombo, St. Anthony Shrine in Colombo and the evangelical Zion Church in Batticaloa. St. Sebastian Church and St. Anthony Shrine were con- secrated and reopened to the public, but Zion Church is still being renovated by the mili- tary. After the bombings, the general public and religious leaders blamed politicians and government officials for failing to prevent the attacks. The Catholic Bishops’ Con- ference of Sri Lanka and Car- dinal Ranjith appealed to the government to appoint an independent commission to conduct an impartial inquiry and to bring the perpetrators to trial. Former President Maithri- pala Sirisena appointed a presidential commission to investigate the bombings. President Gotabaya Rajapak- sa also appointed a commit- tee to undertake a formal inquiry and promised to give justice to victims. Police have arrested 135 people in connection with the attacks. - CNS law enforcement and prison officers, clerks in stores sell- ing basic necessities and all the mums, sisters and grand- mothers who find themselves closed in their homes with the whole family, with children, the elderly, those with disa- bilities.” “Sometimes,” the pope said, “they risk being subject- ed to violence because of a living situation in which they bear too great a burden. We pray for them that the Lord would give them strength and that our communities would support them together with their families.” The pope said he was es- pecially thinking of countries affected by coronavirus such as “Italy, the US, Spain, France – the list is long. I pray for all of them.” Looking directly in the camera, he added, “Don’t forget that the pope prays for you. He is near.” - CNS ¾ ¾ Cindy Wooden