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Many of the religious of the Getafe diocese had to face the scourge of the pandemic from the first days of March. They remember that they were frenetic days, dominated by anguish.
Patxi Bronchalo , 33, a clergyman of the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption of Valdemoro , affirms that there were times when he wore the protective suit, gave extreme unction to a dying patient, "you left the room, you you took off the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), put on another one and went into the next room "to repeat the same ritual. "He attended three burials a day, like this every day of the week," he added.
Of the 10 priests assigned to this town in southern Madrid , three became ill due to the virus, including Patxi himself. "In those days, we didn't really know how to protect ourselves and we were with the sick all the time," he adds.
Another, John Garcia , ended up hospitalized. He shared a home with his mother, who was also infected. She failed to overcome the pandemic. One more victim of this serious health emergency.
Patxi himself wrote these lines on March 11, trying to warn about the scope of the crisis that was looming over the country: "I have seen people's fear of getting infected, the anguish for their isolated infected relatives, the tears for those who are dying, the pain of those who are dismissing their deceased. I tell you this to anticipate something that may soon reach where you are. "
Now that the epidemic seems to begin to subside, Our Lady of the Assumption has decided to face another side effect of this virus: the fate of the ashes of the deceased during confinement.
For the faithful of the Catholic Church, the anguish generated by the Covid-19 crisis has been added to the dilemma posed by confinement against the directives of Rome , which in 2016 prohibited the dispersal of the ashes of the deceased or the permanence of urns in homes.
According to the norm that the Vatican spread at that time, the remains must "be kept in a sacred place" that may well be the cemetery or in the columbariums enabled by the temples of that faith.
The National Association of Funeral Services indicated last year that cremations already represent the option chosen by the relatives of more than 41% of those who died in Spain , but the religious in the Getafe area believe that Spaniards are not yet used to maintaining the ashes of those close to them in their homes.
"For Catholics the value of the body is fundamental. People are very shy about keeping the urns in their houses until they can bury them without these limitations. Here we welcome the ashes, pray a prayer and keep them next to the tabernacle. We are sure of that when the confinement is lifted we will have a large number of funerals, "Patxi explains as he enters the chapel where a wooden trunk located in front of an image of Santiago Apostle keeps three of the urns received so far in this room.
The initiative of the church of Valdemoro joins other similar initiatives that have multiplied by at least half a dozen localities in the south of Madrid under the religious authority of the aforementioned diocese of Getafe, which on the 20th of June offered to "guard" the ballot boxes of the deceased of the coronavirus in the columbariums and facilities of these temples "during the entire duration of the restriction," according to the statement released by one of the parishes.
The Cathedral of Albacete has also made its columbarium available to those who want to deposit the urns of their relatives there.
"The parish agrees to celebrate mass for each of them daily, until the end of the state of alarm," says Father Cruz Gonzalo López Palomo , from the San Isidro Labrador temple in Leganés , another of those who participate in this project. .
Among the urns that now remain in his columbarium awaiting an unrestricted funeral is that of the former parish accountant, who died after contracting Covid-19 at age 70.
"The burials are being very cold, very aseptic. There are people who put their father in the hospital and never saw him again. They just told them that he is dead. Sometimes they had to decide which family member would stay out of the burial Today a lady called me who had lost her mother. There were four brothers and they dumped her luck. It was her turn not to go to the funeral. She told me with tears in her eyes. All this has multiplied the suffering, "adds López Palomo.
The priest of Leganés specifies that the delivery of the urns itself has generated an unprecedented ceremonial to this time, which in addition to a brief response to the arrival of the ashes, includes the recording of a small video and the taking of photographs that are sent to the bereaved, who cannot access the columbarium, since it is too narrow a space to maintain physical distance.
The transition plan designed by the Executive of Pedro Sánchez will allow from this next week the return of funerals with fewer restrictions than those that have been applied until now, which in turn could facilitate the burial of the ashes received in the Spanish churches.
Jordi Fernández , an expert from the Serveis Funeraris de Barcelona , clarifies that starting Monday, a dozen people will be allowed to attend funeral homes and around twenty to funeral services in the churchyard.
The specialized publication Religión Digital assures that the Madrid Cathedral could be the scene of the official funeral for all the deceased of this pandemic that the Spanish authorities are preparing for the end of June, a "public tribute" to which the President of the Government himself referred during his speech in Congress this Wednesday.
"Not being able to say goodbye to their parents has been very hard for families. There are many people with a great charge of conscience," concludes Patxi.
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