Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 19, 2021 / 14:30 pm
The Archbishop of Washington prayed for all victims of the COVID-19 pandemic at a national memorial service on Tuesday evening.
"We turn to the Lord of all to receive these, our sisters and brothers, into eternal peace, and to comfort all those who grieve the loss of a loved one," Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C. prayed at the at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., appearing alongside President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
"We do so not as strangers or disinterested persons, but as fellow citizens who share some limited portion of their grief and sorrow," Cardinal Gregory said of the prayer.
Gregory delivered the invocation at the Nationwide COVID-19 Memorial service on Tuesday evening, held on the eve of the 2021 Inauguration Day. More than 400,000 Americans have died from the COVID-19 pandemic since it began.
"To heal, we must remember. It's hard sometimes to remember, but that's how we heal," President-elect Joe Biden stated in front of the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. "It's important to do that as a nation. That's why we're here today."