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India is grappling with an unprecedented wave of Covid-19 cases. The virus has made at least 20 priests in the past month.
By Robin Gomes
The fury of the second wave of Covid-19 infections that flooded India’s healthcare system claimed the lives of as many as 14 Catholic priests between April 20 and April 23, according to information collected so far across the country.
The Covid-19 crisis in India
The media is teeming with agonizing scenes of hospitals collapsing under record outbreaks in the second wave of coronavirus cases. The situation has been exacerbated by critical shortages of intensive care beds and facilities, many of which have died of suffocation due to an insufficient supply of oxygen.
The world’s worst coronavirus peak on Saturday set a new daily world record for infections for the third day in a row. With 346,786 new infections, India totaled 16 million cases, behind only the United States. The Ministry of Health reported 2,624 more deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the number of Covid-19 deaths in India to 189,544.
The health crisis has also hit the services linked to the last sacraments. Families have been waiting for days to cremate loved ones in overcrowded crematoriums, many turning to makeshift facilities for the last rites.
The Catholic Church in India, which includes the Catholic Churches of the Latin Rite as well as the Eastern Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankare Rite, is served by more than 30,000 priests, diocesans and religious. The 14 people who have died in the past 4 days are among more than 20 priests the Church has lost to the virus in the past month, Matters India reports.
The latest Covid-19 victim was Father Lijo Thomas of the Archdiocese of Nagpur. The 38-year-old priest died on April 23 at Christ Hospital in Chandrapur, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, one of the worst-affected states in India.
Earlier today, the Diocese of Dumka in Jharkhand State in eastern India lost Father S Christudas, a tribal rights activist. The 58-year-old priest recovered from Covid-19 a few days ago but died from a fall in the bathroom.
On the same day, the deadly virus claimed the lives of Fathers Srinivasan, a member of the Jesuit province of Madurai, Diago Dsouza of the Jesuit province of Bombay, and Arulsamy of the Archdiocese of Bhopal in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
The day before, April 22, Fathers Martin Anthony of the Archdiocese of Bangalore and Praveen Hrudayaraj of the Jesuit province of Karnataka breathed their last.
The Diocese of Lucknow in the state of Uttar Pradesh lost Father Basant Lakra on April 21. On the same day, Fathers George Karamayil SJ of Patna, Thomas Akkara SVD, Joseph Cherusseril of the Archdiocese of Raipur and Theodore Toppo of the Carmelite Congregation of the Immaculate of the Diocese of Jagdalpur passed away.
On April 20, the Archdiocese of Raipur, in the state of Chhattisgarh, in central India, lost Father Antony Kunnath. Father Sanjay Francis of the Diocese of Meerut also passed away on the same day.
Religious communities, including women, have also been affected. The toll could be higher. (Source: Matters India)
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