Zagreb Archbishop and Croatian Bishops' Conference (HBK) Vice-President Josip Bozanic will celebrate the Holy Mass for the victims of the coronavirus pandemic in Zagreb on 24 February.

The service, which is part of a Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) prayer initiative, will be held in the parish of St Pope John Paul XXIII in Zagreb’s Dubrava district and  will be broadcast live by Croatian Television.

The Zagreb Archdiocese’s press office has said that the Bishops’ Conferences throughout Europe celebrate masses for the victims of the pandemic from Ash Wednesday throughout Lent according to a set schedule, with the HBK’s turn to celebrate the Holy Mass being on Wednesday.

“On many occasions, the bishops from all over Europe have joined their voice to that of Pope Francis to reiterate the Church’s closeness to all those struggling with the coronavirus: the victims and their families, the sick and the health workers, the volunteers and all those on the front line at this sensitive time.

“Now, throughout the Lenten period, they are launching a prayer network, a Eucharistic chain, for the more than 770,000 people in Europe who have died from Covid-19,” the CCEE says.

CCEE President Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco has released a video message on the occasion of the initiative.

“Each European Bishops’ Conference has engaged in the organisation of at least one Mass: It will be like creating a prayer chain, a Eucharistic chain in memory and in suffrage of so many people. In this prayer we also want to remember the bereaved families and all those who are still suffering from the virus and whose lives remain in uncertainty,” Bagnasco says in the message.