An Irish priest is calling on Catholics to "spiritually adopt" COVID-19 victims who are dying alone in hospitals.
Father Philip Kemmy, from St. Eunan's Cathedral in Donegal, put forward a proposal that Catholics pray for Coronavirus victims each day and spiritually transport themselves beside one of the patients who is dying from the illness alone.
Fr. Kemmy said that he was moved by a recent Sky News report with the headline, "Everyone dies alone." The report documented how people in Italy were dying from Coronavirus without their families who weren't allowed to see them in their final moments due to the risk of infection.
The Irish priest said that he was "stirred" to start the project by the "tragic" and "sobering" report.
He told LifeSiteNews: "It was a very sobering and tragically sad report, describing how, because they have to be isolated, those suffering and slowly dying from Covid19 meet their end without the comfort and consolation of their relatives and loved ones.
"The medical staff do what they can, but they are overwhelmed by the task that lies before them. When I read that headline, immediately I was stirred to begin this little project."
He is calling on Catholics to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet each day in order to spiritually place themselves at the side of sick patients who can't take visitors.
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He drew inspiration from the Diary of St. Faustina, who claimed she was spiritually transported by god to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet at the side of a dying man she did not know.
Fr. Kemmy believes that if enough people pray the Chaplet, then they will spiritually aid dying patients.
"If families were to pray it then several dying persons would be spiritually adopted with the one prayer of the Chaplet.
"Praying the Chaplet for the dying, we will petition Jesus to enfold them in his Merciful Love in their final hours and grant them a strong experience of his consoling presence before they take their leave of this life."
The Sky News report painted a harrowing picture of life in healthcare facilities in Italy. The report told how Italian doctors and nurses were on the brink of tears as they think of scared and lonely patients in their final hours.
It also told of how the mortuary at the Cremona Hospital in Lombardy was so crowded that hospital officials now had to store bodies in the hospital's church.
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