ASIA/KUWAIT – After a major fire in the Abbasiya Catholic parish: “We will stick to our faith”

Tuesday, July 2, 2024

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Mangaf (Fides Agency) – “We will hold on to our faith, despite all the daily difficulties and adversities. We will never give up, even in difficult moments. Our Catholic faith will be the instrument that strengthens us against all adversities”, confirms Father Johny Lonis (OFM Cap), parish priest of St. Daniel Comboni Parish in Abbasiya (see Fides, 30/5/2024), for Fides, after a serious fire broke out in a residential building in the southern district of Mangaf. According to local authorities, about fifty people died due to the smoke coming from the flames, and several were injured. “The victims were all migrant workers who lived in the burned building”, continues Father Lonis. The authorities took immediate action and carried out strict inspections of fire safety and building regulations, so much so that our parish of St. Daniel Comboni had to be temporarily closed. “Until the fire, we were able to hold religious services and meetings in the basements under some residential buildings, made available to us thanks to the generosity of the local authorities. Now we have had to close and the owner has asked us to remove all the sacred objects from the building for safety reasons. At the moment, we no longer have a place to celebrate Mass, but we are confident, also thanks to the proximity of our Bishop Aldo Berardi (OST), Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia, with whom we prayed when he came to us to seek solutions together,” said the friar. “While waiting for the reopening, we continue to visit families and pray with them wherever we can,” concluded the parish priest of St. Daniel Comboni. “Our parishioners have to do without religious services and unfortunately we have experienced this even after the coronavirus pandemic, but we do not give up because we have full confidence in the resources that the Lord will make available to us.” To facilitate the resumption of meetings, the owner of the basement reached an agreement with Bishop Berardi, establishing new safety conditions. “A meeting with local authorities is planned soon to find a long-term solution for the many Christians in the area,” the apostolic vicar of northern Arabia, to which the parish of St. Daniel Comboni belongs, told Fides. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 7/02/2024)

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