The commemoration of the deceased victims of COVID-19 held by the Ho Chi Minh City Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics on November 19. (Photo: VNA)   

NDO/VNA – The Ho Chi Minh City Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics on November 19 held a commemoration and a requiem for the people dying of COVID-19.

The event, held at Nhan Hoa Church in Tan Phu district, also saw the presence of President of the municipal Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Committee To Thi Bich Chau and other officials of Ho Chi Minh City.

Chairing the ceremony, Priest Vu Dinh Thai, head of the Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics in Tan Phu district, said the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on property, claimed lives, and affected the mental and physical health of many people.

In their daily rituals, Catholics always say prayers for those who have died of COVID-19, regardless of their religions. Many parishes across the city have also organised requiems for the deceased, prayed for good health and comforted the bereaved families.

The commemoration and requiem is also an occasion for people to pay tribute to frontliners who have devoted themselves, even their lives, to saving people in the pandemic, Thai noted.

In response to a ceremony held by the Central VFF Committee and the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee in commemoration of the people and frontliners who lost their lives in the COVID-19 pandemic, all churches and chapels in the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City will ring their bells in five minutes, at 8:30pm on November 19, to say prayers for the deceased’s souls.