The Catholic Weekly 19 April 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 16 NEWS 19, April, 2020 Doctors of faith Italian Catholic medical practitioners become Eucharistic ministers for patients LOOKING FOR a way to pro- vide both spiritual and phys- ical care in Easter, a group of Italian doctors received their bishop’s permission to dis- tribute Communion to those infected by the coronavirus. According to an article published on 15 April by Av- venire , the daily newspaper of the Italian bishops’ con- ference, six doctors caring for coronavirus patients at a hos- pital in Prato, located in Tus- cany, presented the idea to the chaplain and subsequent- ly received support fromBish- op Giovanni Nerbini of Prato. Bishop Nerbini made the six doctors extraordinary eucharistic ministers, allow- ing them to give Communion to over 100 patients at Easter. “I cried with the patients. Hospitals are places of care, but we can’t think of separat- ing the body from the spirit,” Filippo Risaliti, one of the doctors who distributed the Eucharist, told Avvenire . “I re- alised that in the fight against coronavirus, our effort is too focused on fighting the phys- ical ills of the patients.” Risaliti said the idea was inspired by Pope Francis’ call for doctors and medical pro- fessionals “to play the role of intermediaries of the church for people who are suffering.” “We are the only ones who could do it, since only we can enter those rooms,” he said. Dressed in protective gear, the hospital chaplain, Father Carlo Bergamaschi, accompa- nied the doctors distributing Communion. The priest carried a cibo- rium filled with consecrated hosts, which were individual- ly separated by gauze pads to avoid contamination. For patients who were on respirators and unable to physically receive the Eucha- rist, the doctors read a prayer at their bedside. Risaliti told Avvenire that he and the other doctors un- derstood the suffering the pa- tients endure due “to isolation from affection and from rela- tives.” “They are lonely, suffering people, not only in body but ¾ ¾ Junno Arocho Esteves also in soul,” he said. Another doctor, Lorenzo Guarducci, said that for them, distribut- ing Communion helped to heal “a double separation” be- cause “one of the tragic con- sequences of this pandemic is isolation, of both the sick and health care workers, from everyone.” Many doctors caring for those infected by the virus have been unable to return to their homes in order to prevent infecting their loved ones. Guarducci said he had not seen his wife and children in over a month. “For me, giving Commun- ion to the sick was a way to fill this void; this gesture allowed me to reunite with my loved ones through the Lord,” he told Avvenire . “It was one of themost beau- tiful experiences I have lived in my life as a man, as a Christian and as a doctor.” - CNS Dr Cinzia Gambarini visits Federico De Luca as he recovers from COVID-19 on 9 April. PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/FLAVIO LO SCALZO, REUTERS Macron renews pledge to rebuild Notre Dame ARCHBISHOP MICHEL Au- petit of Paris welcomed a re- newed pledge by French President Emmanuel Macron to rebuild Notre Dame cathe- dral. “I can’t speak for all hu- manity, but this is certainly a moment of global emotion and witness,” Archbishop Au- petit told Radio Notre Dame April 15, one year after a fire destroyed part of the historic structure. “Both the city and state, which own the cathedral, are agreed on the goal of recon- struction, and it was impor- FrenchArmy General Jean-Louis Georgelin is in charge of the Notre Dame Cathedral reconstruction. PHOTO: CNS, BENOIT TESSIER, REUTERS tant to show from our Holy Week ceremonies that this is now on track. In this sense, it’s more important to show the cathedral is alive than to cele- brate such a sad anniversary.” The 14.6-ton Emmanuel bell in the cathedral’s south- ern tower tolled at 8 pm on 15 April to mark the first anniver- sary. The same day, Macron described Notre Dame as a “symbol of society’s resil- ience” and pledging all efforts to ensure its full reconstruc- tion by 2024. He noted that construction was on hold because of the COVID-19 cri- sis, but said it would “start up again as soon as possible.” Up to 500 firefighters bat- tled to save the 850-year-old cathedral after the April 2019 fire brought down its 300- foot spire and two-thirds of its 13th-century oak roof and destroyed much of its wooden interior and masonry. Rescue teams evacuated many of the cathedral’s art- works and sacred objects, in- cluding what some Catholics believe to be the Crown of Thorns, used at Christ’s Cruci- fixion, and a gold tunicwornby themedieval king, St. Louis IX. The former general over- seeing the reconstruction, Jean-Louis Georgelin, told France’s Catholic Le Pelerin weekly he believed a Te Deum for the building’s rededication would be held om 16 April, 2024, the year Paris is due to host the Olympic Games. Macron said the coronavi- rus crisis was currently “mo- nopolizing all thoughts” in France, but he praised the “specialists, architects, arti- sans, workers and appren- tices” working to rebuild the cathedral. New team for Vatican financial watchdog MORE THAN four months af- ter Pope Francis named a new president for the Vatican’s fi- nancial watchdog agency, the leadership roster of the agen- cy was completed with the naming of a new director and vice director. Giuseppe Schlitzer, a pro- fessor of international finance who has held senior posts at Italy’s central bank and the International Monetary Fund, was named director of the Vatican Financial Information Authority on 15 April. According to the statutes of the office, established by Pope Benedict XVI, the director is named by the Vatican secre- tary of state. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state, also named as vice director Federico An- tellini Russo, who has worked at the agency since 2015. In late November, Pope Francis had named as pres- ident of the agency Carmelo Barbagallo, a seasoned Italian finance inspector. Announcing the appoint- ments of the director and vice director, the Vatican said Schlitzer succeeds “Tommaso Di Ruzza, who concluded his five-year mandate on 20 Jan- uary.” In early October, Di Ruzza’s office and the offices of the Fi- nancial Information Authority were raided by Vatican police as part of an investigation into a Vatican investment in a de- velopment property in Lon- don. Di Ruzza and four other Vatican employees were tem- porarily suspended pending the outcome of the investiga- tion. Later that month, the agen- cy’s board of directors “re- affirmed its full trust” in Di Ruzza, who, the board said, was fulfilling his task of in- vestigating suspect financial activities. Pope Benedict established the Financial Information Au- thority in late 2010 to monitor Vatican financial operations and ensure they met interna- tional norms against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. In November 2013, Pope Francis revised the agency’s statutes. - CNS A group of Italian doctors received their bishop’s permission to distribute Communion to those infect- ed by the coronavirus. PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/NANCYWIECHEC