By Matters India Reporter
Mumbai, April 11, 2020: Cardinal Oswald Gracias, head of the Catholic Church in India, says every citizen has a moral obligation to adhere to the government’s guidelines during the national lockdown.
“Whatever the government decides, we must observe what the government tells us. If we have got to stay indoors, we have to stay indoors not only for our own protection, but as a moral obligation to protect others,” he said in his sermon on April 10, Good Friday.
“We have got to work together,” added the prelate who is the archbishop of Bombay, the largest diocese in India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 announced the 21-day lockdown from midnight that day to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
The cardinal led the Way of the Cross in the Holy Name Cathedral at Nathalal Parekh Marg in Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra which tops the Indian state for corona affected people.
He paid tribute to all the healthcare workers who were risking their lives in order to fight the virus. He said, “We pay tribute to the great volunteers who are sacrificing themselves on the frontline — our doctors, nurses, attendants and scientists who are doing research.”
He also paid tribute to the civic authorities saying, “I also want to pay tribute to the civic authorities — the police who are trying to keep people at home for our own good. So, we realize that we need one another, we need God.”
Cardinal Gracias addressed the virtual participants and blessed the people with the relic of the True Cross.
The prelate said the relic is a gift Brescia, an Italian city where Saint Paul VI was born.
The cardinal said that in 2015 the saintly Pope’s family and the Diocese of Brescia had invited him to visit the place, some 560 km northwest of Rome.
As on April 10, Maharashtra recorded a total of 1,574 confirmed and 1,278 active cases with 188 deaths. As many as 210 active cases and 11 deaths occurred in the past 24 hours.