ASIA/HONG KONG - Mexican missionaries working in Hong Kong join local faithful in praying for the people of Mexico affected by the Influenza A

Hong Kong (Agenzia Fides) – The Missionaries of Guadalupe from Mexico, who are working in Hong Kong, have joined the local faithful in praying for the people of Mexico who are being affected by the Influenza A. According to a report from the Kong Ko Bao, the Chinese version of the diocesan bulletin, Fr. Gabriel Altamirano Ortega, parish pastor of St. Margaret Mary, has exhorted his faithful in Hong Kong to have a truly Catholic heart, that is to say a universal heart, to pray for the Mexican victims, with the hope that they can overcome the trial with faith and hope, as the inhabitants of Hong Kong did, in 2003, with SARS. The Missionaries of Guadalupe have been working in Hong Kong since 1975 in the area of education, of parish pastoral work, and in evangelization. Today, the community is made up of 9 priests, 1 deacon, and 2 religious brothers. During the meeting last week, they prayed for all their compatriots.
Father Benedict Lam Cho Ming, the priest in charge of administering Last Rites to people during the SARS epidemic in 2003, said: “We should take up the arms of solidarity that was what overcame the SARS, in order to eliminate panic with consolation and support.” The Holy Father Benedict XVI has shown his “solidarity with the Mexican people” on various occasions, explicitly asking the media to convey that “the Pope is close to all the sick and praying for the victims and their families.” Yesterday, May 3, he repeated this fact in the recitation of the Regina Caeli. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 4/5/2009)