WW2-ANNIVERSARY/JAPAN-NAGASAKI MASS Nagasaki church holds mass to mark atomic bomb anniversary

Record ID: 144524

  • Title: WW2-ANNIVERSARY/JAPAN-NAGASAKI MASS Nagasaki church holds mass to mark atomic bomb anniversary
  • Date: 9th August 2015
  • Summary: NUNS SINGING HYMN AS THEY MARCH
  • Embargoed: 24th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAB2HUWF2CDWL2NZUBHDVN22K1G
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: About 2,000 Catholics in Nagasaki attended a special mass on Sunday (August 9) at a church that was destroyed by the atomic bomb to commemorate 70 years since the attack.
    Worshippers gathered at the Urakami Cathedral, located only 500 meters (546 yards) away from the hypocentre of the atomic bomb the United States dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
    The brick Neo-Romanesque cathedral, completed in 1925, was completely devastated by the blast, along with thousands of other buildings in the northern part of the industrial port city.
    The city of Nagasaki held a memorial ceremony earlier on Sunday at the Nagasaki Peace Park located right under where the bomb exploded.
    "This commemoration calls to mind terrible evil encountered 70 years ago, but as we commemorate in light of gospel, this is also an opportunity for us to commit ourselves to peace," a visiting American bishop, Oscar Cantu, said in a sermon.
    It took 14 years for the Christian community of Urakami, which had withstood religious oppression and ultimately won their freedom in the 19th century, to complete the reconstruction of their religious home.
    One of the faithful said she felt emotional during the special mass on Sunday.
    "This is a church destroyed by the atomic bomb and rebuilt by the hands of the church community, so the mass today was special and very emotional to us," 44-year-old Kaori Tagawa said.
    Another believer said he prayed for world peace during the mass.
    "There is only one thing we pray for today - a peaceful world, that's the only wish in our prayers," 77-year-old Toshiaki Iwanaga said.
    The believers also marched on the streets holding bamboo torches to send out messages of peace and world free of nuclear weapons.
    The United States dropped the atomic bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" on Nagasaki three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
    More than 150,000 died in the attack and from the subsequent radiation sickness. Japan surrendered six days later, ending World War Two.
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