“Do not be afraid, you are not alone - Pope Francis tweets as global Coronavirus death toll tops 65,000

Leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis has admonished Christians all over the world to dedicate their lives to the service of God and avoid fear as the world battles with the Coronavirus pandemic that has killed over 65,000 people globally.

The Pope who has been under quarantine and restricted to the number of people he meets daily due to the strong presence of the disease in Italy, held today’s Palm Sunday mass in front of an empty auditorium in the Vatican city.

In a series of Tweets, the Catholic church leader said;

”Dear young people, feel called yourselves to put your lives on the line. Do not be afraid to devote your life to God and to others; it pays!For life is a gift we receive only when we give ourselves away, and our deepest joy comes from saying yes to love, without ifs and buts #WYD”

‘God saved us by serving us. We often think we are the ones who serve God. No, he is the one who freely chose to serve us, for he loved us first. It is difficult to love and not be loved in return. And it is even more difficult to serve if we do not let ourselves be served by God.’

‘Jesus experienced total abandonment in a situation he had never before experienced in order to be one with us in everything. He did it for me, for you, to say to us: “Do not be afraid, you are not alone. I experienced all your desolation in order to be ever close to you”.

‘The Father upheld Jesus in his service. He did not take away the evil that crushed him, but rather strengthened him in his suffering so that our evil could be overcome by good, by a love that loves to the very end. #PalmSunday ‘