Brazil pastor brings prayers to COVID-19 patients
The Rev. Celio Ricardo has spent nearly two decades helping drug addicts get off crack cocaine. Now he’s trying to bring spiritual support to victims of another scourge afflicting Rio de Janeiro: COVID-19.
“The church can’t sit idly by or stay silent,” Ricardo said as he joined in singing hymns and prayers with a few dozen parishioners and relatives of COVID-19 victims outside a hospital, raising their voices over the thrum of traffic in a busy neighborhood on the city’s north side.
“We were retreating, but this is the time to attack. This is the time for people to see that the church is here, ready to open its hands and help.”
Members of the God's Love Evangelical Church and Rehab Center pray for COVID-19 patients outside a municipal hospital in Guapimirim, a municipality in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, Tuesday, March 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Members of the God's Love Evangelical Church and Rehab Center walk past a funeral home near a hospital, before praying for COVID-19 patients in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, March 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
A member of the God's Love Evangelical Church and Rehab Center prays with a drug user in an area known as "cracolandia" or crackland, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, March 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
According to official figures, more than 310,000 people have died in Brazil since the start of the pandemic, the second-largest tally behind the United States. With more than 36,000 deaths by itself, Rio de Janeiro state is one of the worst-hit in Brazil.
He decided to hold street-corner meetings for families of COVID-19 victims about a week ago after talking with other pastors about rampant new cases crowding Rio’s hospitals. “God’s voice has the power to change the course of this situation,” Ricardo said. “I felt it in my heart.”
While experts say singing in closed spaces has been linked to some outbreaks of COVID-19 during the pandemic, Ricardo’s group prays in the open air, wears masks, and passes around hand sanitizer.
Restaurants, bars, and nonessential businesses have been shut in Rio de Janeiro since March 26. Mayor Eduardo Paes announced new restrictions this week in an attempt to stop the rise in hospitalizations.
The pastor said the group has been welcomed by families of patients and he intends to visit more hospitals.
“The Bible says to take strength from weakness,” he said. “We sing and pray because our voice can bring assurance of the love of God to those taking their last breaths.”
Text from AP News Story, Brazil pastor brings prayers to COVID-19 patients.
Photos by Felipe Dana
