AMERICA/URUGUAY - May 1: "An embrace of solidarity in the pain and difficulties of workers, a message of great hope"

Thursday, 30 April 2020 work local churches coronavirus

URUGUAY

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On May 6 the Beatification of the first Bishop of Montevideo, born on a boat of emigrants

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The first Bishop of Montevideo, Jacinto Vera, missionary and tireless apostle to be beatified

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Appointment of the National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, Fr. Gabriel Rainusso

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The Bishops reflect on the life of the communities and urge them to resume participation in Sunday Mass

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After the interruption due to the pandemic, thousands of pilgrims return to the Shrine of the "Our Lady of the Thirty-Three"

Montevideo (Agenzia Fides) - This May 1st "finds us in the midst of a global storm, imagining a future of great economic and social crisis that will require the greatest responsibility and generosity of all, social movements and the State, for a new day to appear, a new world and a new humanity": says the President of the Department of Social Pastoral Care DEPAS-Cáritas, Mgr. Pedro Wolcan Olano, Bishop of Tacuarembó to workers. "Great crises can be great opportunities for change of course which today seems urgent. We are certain of it", underlines the Bishop on the occasion of workers' day, which is celebrated on 1st May, in the text sent to Fides.
"In one week, thousands of workers found themselves without a job, asking to be assured against unemployment, while the many informal workers are even less protected", writes the Bishop, stressing that "the response of the people was not long in coming: the initial amazement had not yet passed when 'popular kitchens' and 'baskets of solidarity' flourished throughout the country, responding to the most urgent needs".
The message recalls the "very moving" letter that Pope Francis sent on Easter Sunday to Social Movements, in which he said: "If the fight against Covid is a war, you are a true invisible army fighting in the most dangerous trenches An army that has no other weapon than solidarity, hope and a sense of community that is reinvigorated in these days when nobody saves themselves".
The President of DEPAS-Caritas thanks in particular "all the health workers who are at the forefront of their lives to save many others" and whoever covers essential services at the moment. "We are not alone. We have each other, which is also the meaning and the profound message of the celebration of Workers' Day", underlines the message. "But Christians also have another certainty which is the basis of our utmost hope and which we want to share today with this greeting: the risen Jesus lives and walks with us".
"Dear brothers and sisters workers of this beloved Uruguay, our greeting in this 2020 starting from the harsh reality, wants to be at the same time an embrace of solidarity in the pain and difficulties of the workers and their families, a message of great hope: We trust in the Lord and in our people!" concludes the Bishop. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 30/4/2020)