Photo: Rodrigo Abd/AP
WelCom July 2020:
The Archbishop of Lima, Carlos Castillo had his church filled with more than 5,000 portraits of those who have died in the pandemic. He then used his broadcast homily to criticise a health system he said was ‘based on egotism and on business and not on mercy and solidarity with the people’. Archbishop Castillo called for solidarity with the poor. Hundreds have died without receiving help from the health system and many families have faced financial ruin due to the cost of trying to care for the sick.
Church workers in Lima spent days filling the pews with images of coronavirus victims. When the 84 pews were filled the archbishop ordered thousands more photos attached to the base of the columns that rise to the arched ceiling. There were images of doctors, police, firemen and street cleaners, an infant. Some hugged their grandchildren. A woman danced with her son.