Bishop: Let Pope be guide on pandemic

MANILA, Philippines — Bishop Broderick Pabillo, Archdiocese of Manila’s apostolic administrator, on Sunday urged the Catholic faithful to heed the call of Pope Francis to pray, fast and do acts of charity on May 14 to end the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To make our act of charity concrete, I invite everyone to extend material help to at least one person within your reach, no matter the amount, to make that person feel the care we have for each other,” Pabillo said in a pastoral instruction titled “Let us be one with the whole Church.”

He said the event was in line with the celebration of the Year of Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue as it would be participated in not only by Christians but also by people of other faiths to implore the Almighty to end the coronavirus pandemic that has been ravaging the whole world.

The celebration “is a very concrete sign of common activity of all religions since prayer, fasting and acts of love are common to all and we are all affected by this pandemic,” he said.

Quoting Vatican News, the Archdiocese of Manila’s apostolic administrator said Pope Francis had accepted the proposal to hold the celebration on May 14 .

Universal value

“Since prayer is a universal value, I have accepted the proposal of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity so that next May 14 believers of all religions unite spiritually in a Day of Prayer and Fasting and Works of Charity, to implore God to help humanity overcome the coronavirus pandemic,” Pope Francis said.

“Remember: May 14, all believers together, believers of different traditions, to pray fast, and do works of charity,” the Pope added.

The Higher Committee for Human Fraternity is an organization that was created after Pope Francis met with Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and together signed the Document on Human Fraternity in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 4, 2019.

The document is a joint statement that calls for the reconciliation of people of goodwill in the service of universal peace.

—TINA G. SANTOS