Macau: Jesuit priest asks for prayers during coronavirus outbreak

Fr Fernando Azpiroz SJ

Source: Jesuit Missions

Fr Fernando Azpiroz SJ, Director of Casa Ricci Social Services in China, is asking for the prayers of Jesuit Missions supporters on his recent return from Hunan. Hunan is a neighbour province of Hubei, which is at the heart of the coronavirus epidemic.

Fr Fernando writes: Dear Jesuit Missions friends,

First of all, thank you for your prayers and concern.

I have just returned from Hunan where I guided an eight-day workshop to 14 sisters and some of the patients who are serving/have served persons living with HIV/AIDS. Now I am following the 15 days home-based quarantine demanded by the Macau government.

During my time in Hunan, all of us stayed at the centre without going to the town. To my big surprise, the town had no coronavirus patients, so turned out to be one of the safest places in China. This meant I could leave the town and come back to Macau. As you can see, many people praying!

I guess you are aware of the situation in Hubei and other provinces. It is quite amazing how just a virus could stop the country that just few weeks ago saw itself as the engine of the World. Many things to reflect on why and how this has happened. But regardless of this, I can see a lot of courage from the people and an enormous effort from the government to fight the epidemic.

As for us, we are trying to do the following things:

1) Give financial support to buy protective masks and materials to hospitals and places that have asked us for help, including the Yunnan province infectious disease hospital.

2) Continue our service in the 11 leprosy centres and the Loving Care HIV centre in Hongjiang, making sure that the Sisters and volunteers are taking good care of themselves. As for the children's homes, the children went back home for the Chinese New Year break and we are following their situation. We have four children from Hubei, one of them is currently with us in Kunming. Please pray for him.

3) In our two offices (Kunming and Macau) we are working at home following government regulations to control the coronavirus epidemic.

Please remember to pray for us and for China during these difficult moments. We need it.

In Christ,

Fr. Fernando

12 February 2020, Macau SAR