Goa Church to hold special prayers for Lanka blasts victims

The Goa Church will organise special prayers on Sunday to express solidarity with the victims of the serial blasts in Sri Lanka and their kin.

In a statement released here on Thursday, Fr Filipe Neri Ferrao, Archbishop of Goa and Daman, condemned the "most unwarranted and senseless" terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka.

Nine Suicide bombers carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and three luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on the Easter Sunday. Nearly 360 people were killed in the attacks.

"We are all well aware by now of the multiple bomb blasts that took place in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, targeting churches and hotels and leaving scores of innocent human beings dead, many of whom had gathered to celebrate the greatest Feast of Life, life that was brought to us by Jesus, through His triumph over death and evil," the archbishop said.

"We need to pray for those who were most affected by them (attacks): the souls of the deceased, some of them children who had made their First Holy Communion a few minutes earlier, the hundreds who are injured, quite a few of them on the brink of death, and the great number of families whose life has been thrown out of balance by this tragedy," he said.

The Latin Rite dioceses in India, under the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), have been advised to observe coming Sunday the Divine Mercy Sunday as a day of prayer for the Church and the people of Sri Lanka, the statement said.

"During our Eucharistic celebrations on April 28, our pastors and those in charge of the liturgy are requested to add some prayers of the faithful for the departed souls, the injured and the families that were affected by these attacks and who are yet to come to terms with this most deplorable situation," he said.

A candle-light prayer or procession could be organised wherever possible, to draw the attention of our people to the gruesome tragedy occurred in this our neighbouring country and to invite them to pray with us for peace and harmony throughout the world, the archbishop said.