Brazil's Christ The Redeemer Statue Was Lit Up As A Doctor On Easter

Christ the Redeemer stood as a tribute to the world’s healthcare workers on Easter

All over the world, as we all continue to battle the coronavirus pandemic, tributes are pouring in to support healthcare workers, who put themselves on the front lines of the disease, constantly in danger, in order to help save others’ lives. There’s no way we can truly tell them how much we appreciate their work and their sacrifices, but all around the world, people keep trying. In one particularly moving tribute over the weekend, Brazil’s famous Christ the Redeemer was lit up with the faces of doctors and nurses, with messages of thanks for those on the front lines.

According to CNN, the images were projected onto the iconic statue Sunday night April 12, 2020, while Rio de Janeiro’s Archbishop Dom Orani Tempesta gave Easter Mass from the statue’s base, during which he paid tribute to the hospital workers who are working so hard around the world. Flags of some of the countries hardest hit by coronavirus were projected onto the Redeemer, as well as photos of front line healthcare workers.

There were also messages projected onto the statue, like “Fique Em Casa,” which means “Stay At Home” in Portuguese. At the base of Christ the Redeemer, messages of thanks were projected in the languages of many of the countries around the world that are battling the worst rates of disease and death.

One of the most poignant images projected onto the Redeemer was one that made it look like the statue itself was a doctor.

This isn’t the first time that Christ the Redeemer was lit up with projections in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Last month, the statue was used to display images of all the countries that have reported coronavirus cases. But it’s particularly powerful that the statue was used for a tribute not only on Easter Sunday but while an Easter Mass was being held at the base of the statue.

To date, Brazil has seen just over 22,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, and nearly 1,300 deaths. Despite that, though, Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been one of an increasingly shrinking handful of world leaders who continues to downplay the threat of the virus, calling it a “little flu,” and insisting that the threat to Brazil’s economy in the event of a long-term shutdown is greater than the threat of illness.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, there have been nearly 2 million coronavirus cases confirmed around the world so far, and more than 115,000 people have died. We still have a long fight ahead, but the way people all around the world are coming together in support of one another gives us all hope.