How have 18 priests been killed by the Coronavirus in Italy? Does this expectation to care for sick make sense?

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Emeraldlady said:
But these Priests are elderly and not being sent out to care for the sick. The big problem is the communal living arrangements for elderly Priests. Enormous care has to be taken in nursing homes and communal living sites.
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Thanks for the very good point! This makes more sense to me. You only need one priest to go out, get sick, and come back to a communal arrangement…
 
That’s true!

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us
Agios o Theos, Agios Ischyros, Agios Athanatos, eleison imas
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us

ZP
 
I believe priests are taking every reasonable precaution in the US for themselves and parishioners with protective masks and so on in hospitals. I am hearing they are only permitted in hospitals if they are on staff as the resident chaplain, and most nursing homes will not let them in either. Mass, confessions, and other church activities have been cancelled in most diocese, at least in many states.

Like doctors, nurses and soldiers, I think priests suffer more when they cannot minister to people than if they must do so at risk. Bishops can of course protect priests who are more elderly or in particularly fragile health, but they ultimately want to serve.
 
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Yes…no doubt my numbers were a day old…the change in the numbers in a day is scary in and of itself.
 
It really is. I don’t think we’re getting the full death count either.
 
How sad, that the parishioners who love them cannot attend their funerals because of the circumstances.😥
 
So by this reasoning the doctors and nurses should also stop caring for the sick? They are doctors of the body and priests are doctors of the soul.
It’s their calling. Another reason, in my humble opinion why they should not be married, so they have no one to answer to but the Beloved (God) who ought to be the only one they are attached too. As it should be for all of us, but more perfectly in them, by virtue of their vocation. And so we should be praying and offering sacrifices for them always but especially now.
 
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Some jobs come with risks. Firefighters, police, health care workers know what they’re in for.
One of the sacraments is “Anointing of the Sick”. Priests know what they’re in for when they take the job.
 
Not sure if it applies to the priests or not–ABC News (which I generally do not trust, but am watching because it’s the only news on my TV at the moment) just said that one reason for the high death toll in Italy is that many of the dead are older men (80s) who smoke

Apparently (and understandably), there is a connection between high death rate and high smoking rate. It seems that many people in Italy smoke, in spite of all our knowledge about the unhealthy effects of smoking.

Again, not sure if this applies to any of the priests who have died–God rest their souls.

But it’s worth thinking about here in the U.S., where about 15-17% of the population still smokes.

Glad I don’t smoke–I have enough other unhealthy habits without adding that one to the list.
 
It’s sad, and I hope I am never put into a position where I have to decide what to do, but for the dearly departed servants of God, there is solace in the Gospel and the words of our Lord:

John 15:12-13

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. [Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
 
Bluebright said:
Another reason, in my humble opinion why they should not be married, so they have no one to answer to but the Beloved (God) who ought to be the only one they are attached too.
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I didn’t go there, but honestly I think we need more data before we can understand what this high death rate of priests in Italy has to do with whether priest should or shouldn’t be married.

You could also make the hypothesis that married priests would be less likely to live in deeply communal settings. Instead they would be more isolated with their close families. This would stop the spread of something like Coronavirus. You could also make the hypothesis that the celibacy requirement is pushing us to use older priests who are more susceptible to Coronavirus. You’d have to have data to test these hypotheses. I have no idea what we’ll learn about this once this Corona madness passes.

I think why these priests are dying at such a high rate during this crisis should be studied though someday.
 
Permanent Deacons visit the sick, do Baptisms funerals and weddings. Our deacon will do a Baptism this afternoon (only deacon parents and sponsors present) and did a marriage prep session(in the parking lot. All church offices are closed).
Marriage does nothing to diminish the call to service.
What I fear is that when this is over we will have even fewer priests.
 
First of all, it’s a priests’ job to provide pastoral care to his flock and I’m sure these priests were aware of the risks and made the free choice to go do whatever they did. A priest is a spiritual “physician”. Priests usually can’t and don’t just lock themselves in their rectories and refuse to see anyone during wartime or plague time or whatever.

Secondly, the way this virus is spreading in Italy, some priests would likely come down with it even if they took precautions, especially since many people including priests may have been infected before all the lockdowns went into effect.

I would suggest that you pray for the souls of the priests who died, pray that the priests still with us stay healthy or recover quickly if they get sick, and also pray for vocations. Often young men are inspired to be priests when they see other priests risking their lives or dying in crisis situations. With God’s grace, it is unlikely that these deceased priests are going to be the last priests in Italy.
 
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Jesus died to heal us of our sins, not sure what you are getting at.
 
Peeps said:
Apparently (and understandably), there is a connection between high death rate and high smoking rate. It seems that many people in Italy smoke, in spite of all our knowledge about the unhealthy effects of smoking.
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I believe that to be true. My father in law and 2 of his brothers emigrated from Northern Italy to Australia and they all had that attitude about smoking. When my father in law was on his death bed, organs shutting down one by one, he was still asking for his smokes and whiskey. In general he had a sarcastic disregard for the whole field of medicine! 😆
 
Prophet-of-Doom said:
I would like to know the ages of the priests.
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In the article I linked to it said this…

All but three of the priests were over the age of 70, and more than half were over 80 years old. The youngest priest to die from coronavirus, Fr. Andrea Avanzini of the Diocese of Parma, was 54 years old.

Eleven of the deceased priests come from the Diocese of Bergamo, where at least 15 other priests have been hospitalized, according to the local bishop
 
adamhovey1988 said:
Jesus died to heal us of our sins, not sure what you are getting at.
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If this is to me, the thing is that how we handle Covid19 is not simple. For example much of Leviticus was about quarantine management related to leprosy, and many of Jesus’ miracles where about healing lepers and bringing them back into society. This is not a new or simple problem. I just don’t see simple answers or black and white solutions. To me it is just many complicated decisions. I think it is all very worthy of much discussion…
 
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Priests can’t refuse last Rites. Why were only old priests available for this? That is the other question…
To those who believe that Covid-19 is just the other flu virus… think again…
Things are pretty sad in Italy, Pope Francis speaks of the times after the pandemic as times after the war.
In Italy today they had the worst daily death toll so far.
My bet is these older priests offered themselves to meet the sick since they were old and protecting the younger priests seemed important to them.
Things are very bad in Italy, doctors have to choose who gets the oxygen masks and who doesn’t due to limited resources. Older people are less likely to survive hence they are just assisted into death when they enter hospitals.
Please pray for Italy and its people and all people who have deceased from this virus as well as the sick. All news coming from Italy are even sadder than local news of infected people.
 
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