Madrid, Spain, Apr 17, 2020 / 13:00 pm
As Spain struggles to combat the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 188,000 cases and 19,000 deaths, the mayors of Madrid and nearby Spanish cities have expressed gratitude for the work of the Church during the crisis.
Madrid's mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida, of the center-right People's Party, sent a note April 12 to each priest of the Archdiocese of Madrid, expressing gratitude for "quiet and heroic labor" and for "your support for the most vulnerable, your dedication to the sick, for whom you pray every day and to whom you bring the sacraments, ensuring their spiritual consolation and that of their family members."
María José Martínez de la Fuente, also of the People's Party and mayor of Aranjuez, a town south of Madrid, expressed similar sentiments in an April 14 letter, the Diocese of Getafe reported.
"I want to express my appreciation and gratitude for your daily work in support of the disadvantaged," and "for your tireless efforts to be there for the final farewell for our citizens who are dying as a result of this coronavirus pandemic," the mayor wrote.