Pope remembers those suffering from Ebola at today's general audience

Pope Makes Impassioned Appeal for Those Suffering From Ebola

At Weekly Audience, Urges International Community to Act to Eradicate Virus

    

Vatican City, October 29, 2014 (Zenit.org) Deborah Castellano Lubov   

Pope Francis has made an impassioned appeal for those being tormented by the deadly virus: Ebola.

Speaking to faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square toward the conclusion of his weekly General Audience on Wednesday, the Holy Father expressed his closeness to those suffering and called on the international community to put in place every necessary effort to eradicate the virus.
“Facing the worsening of the epidemic of Ebola,” the Holy Father said, “I wish to express my deep concern about this relentless disease that is spreading, especially on the African continent, especially among disadvantaged groups."
The Argentine Pontiff expressed his affection and prayers to those affected, as well as doctors, nurses, volunteers, religious institutions and associations, who, he noted, are “working heroically to help our brothers and sisters who are sick.”
“I renew my appeal,” he continued, “that the international community will do all necessary efforts to eradicate this virus, to effectively alleviate the hardships and sufferings.”
Concluding, Pope Francis invited those gathered in the square to pray for those suffering and for those who lost their lives.
According to the World Health Organization, Ebola is a viral illness whose initial symptoms include a sudden fever, muscle pain, intense weakness, and a sore throat. The conditions of those infected rapidly worsens and it is often fatal.
The outbreak of the virus in West Africa is the deadliest to date. The WHO has declared an international health emergency as it has claimed more than 3,800 lives in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria this year.
Added to this, it is appearing in other continents, including North America, with cases in New York and Texas.

Devout Catholic nurse cured from ebola credits God and the power of prayer

Ebola survivor Nina Pham: I believe in the power of prayer

                  

Nina Pham after her release from care. Screenshot.

Washington D.C., Oct 24, 2014 / 12:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Nina Pham, a Dallas nurse who has been battling Ebola after treating a patient in Texas, has now been declared free of the disease, and gave thanks to God and all those who have prayed for her in recent weeks.

“I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today,” Pham said in a press conference Oct. 24. “I would first and foremost like to thank God, my family and friends. Throughout this ordeal, I have put my trust in God and my medical team.”

Pham thanked everyone who had been involved in her care, both in Texas and Maryland. She offered special gratitude to Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly for donating plasma, calling it a “selfless act.”

“I believe in the power of prayer because I know so many people all over the world have been praying for me,” she continued. “I join you in prayer now for the recovery of others.”

The 26-year-old nurse, described by friends as a devout Catholic, is believed to have contracted Ebola while caring for a Thomas Eric Duncan, a patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Duncan passed away from Ebola Oct. 8.

Pham was transferred to the National Institutes of Health in Maryland on Oct. 16. Numerous tests have now shown her to be Ebola free, and she will return to Texas to continue regaining strength.

Ebola continues to devastate parts of West Africa. The World Health Organization said that nearly 5,000 deaths had been reported as of Oct. 19, but the true numbers could be as high as 15,000.

Pham’s fellow nurse, Amber Vinson, had also contracted Ebola after caring for Duncan. Vinson is currently being treated. Her family said Oct. 22 that she had tested free of the disease.

One diocese reacts to the possibility of ebola

Ebola prompts hands-off Mass in Fort Worth, Texas

Lauren Markoe | October 16, 2014 |  

(RNS) The Blood of Christ will not be offered during Mass. The Host will be placed in the hands, not on the tongue. And the faithful should not hold hands while reciting the “Our Father.”
These are but a few of the guidelines the Diocese of Fort Worth — not far from the Dallas hospital where three Ebola cases have been diagnosed — has sent to its parishes to calm fears about the deadly disease and to prevent the spread of flu.
While the diocese is perhaps the first in the U.S. to send around such a memo thanks in part to Ebola, such restrictions are common during flu season in Catholic and other churches that offer Communion.

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Catholic priest giving Holy Communion. Photo courtesy of Photographee.eu via Shutterstock

“It’s the same guidelines we have used in past years,” said Pat Svacina, communications director for the Diocese of Fort Worth. “This is just a normal thing. There is no panic whatsoever.”

Nina Pham, the nurse diagnosed with Ebola on Sunday (Oct. 12) after having helped to treat the first patient ever diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S., belongs to a Catholic church in east Fort Worth. But Svacina said that she has not been to the church since August, likely because she works weekend shifts, and that her family members, who also attend the church, were not in physical contact with her when her symptoms appeared and she became potentially contagious.

A second nurse who works at the same Dallas hospital with Pham, Amber Vinson, was diagnosed with Ebola on Tuesday. She also treated Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who died of Ebola.

The Diocese of Dallas has not issued similar guidelines, but Ebola is much on Bishop Kevin J. Farrell’s mind. On his blog Wednesday, he offered prayers for the health care workers grappling with Ebola, expressed confidence in local health care authorities and wrote that “this is a time for our community to respond with calmness and compassion.”

Among other precautions issued by the Diocese of Fort Worth:

• Share the “Sign of Peace” without touching or kissing, perhaps with a smile, or “meaningful eye contact” or “a bow of the head.”
• Priests should use an alcohol-based solution on their hands before and after distributing Holy Communion.
• Priests should not distribute Holy Communion if they feel ill, and should discourage parishioners who feel sick from coming to church.

The federal government is trying to include faith communities in its efforts to prevent the spread of Ebola in the U.S., inviting them to join in a conference call Saturday with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency charged with the response to Ebola within the U.S.