Pope Francis led the world's Roman Catholics in prayer on Wednesday to ask God to stop the coronavirus pandemic.
"In this moment, we want to implore (God's) mercy for a humanity so sorely tried by the coronavirus pandemic.
We do it together, Christians of every Church and Community, of every tradition, of every age, language and nation," he said from the Vatican on Wednesday (March 25).
In an introduction to the Our Father, which is also known as "The Lord's Prayer," he said it was also for "the sick and their families, health workers and those who assist them, for authorities, police forces and volunteers, for the (religious) ministers of our communities." When he announced the prayer initiative on Sunday (March 22), Francis invited all other Christian leaders and individual faithful to pray simultaneously at noon Italian time (1100 GMT).
The 83-year-old Francis prayed from inside the Vatican, where he has been holed up for the past few weeks.
Pope Francis held a special prayer vigil on Thursday night in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Catholics all over the..
