The Primate Cathedral of Toledo will host on Tuesday, November 10, at 7:00 p.m., the funeral for the victims of the Urda train accident, which claimed 69 lives. This was announced on Wednesday by the Information Office of the Archdiocese of Toledo, which specifies that the Mass will be celebrated that day and not on the 12th, as initially announced, “due to scheduling reasons of the various institutions.”
The Eucharist will be presided over by the Archbishop of Toledo, Francisco Cerro, accompanied by the auxiliary bishop, Francisco César García. It is also expected that the bishops of Cuenca, Guadalajara, Ciudad Real, and Albacete will attend, as well as other prelates from various Spanish dioceses and the president of the Episcopal Conference, Luis Javier Argüello. The official ceremony will also include institutional representation, and the presence of the King and Queen is anticipated.
A second funeral following the one held in Urda
The celebration at the Cathedral follows the funeral Mass that was held on Saturday, October 31, at 12:00 p.m. in the parish church of San Juan Bautista in Urda, also presided over by Cerro and the auxiliary bishop. That first service took place in the closest town in Toledo to the site of the tragedy, while the one at the Cathedral is conceived as a collective funeral for all the deceased.
The archdiocese has been close to the families from the very beginning. As InfoVaticana reported, the Archbishop of Toledo accompanied the families of the accident with a message of prayer and closeness.
Cádiz and Ceuta, November 9
The Church’s response to the tragedy is not limited to Toledo. The Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta has called on all the faithful to a funeral Mass for the victims on Monday, November 9, at 8:00 p.m., in the Cathedral of Cádiz. It will be presided over by the apostolic administrator of the diocese, and prayers will also be offered for the prompt recovery of the injured and thanks will be given to the emergency teams and security forces who attended to the victims.
Among the deceased is Carlos Ortiz, director of the CEU Schools Area, whose death was confirmed by CEU itself and the ACdP, meaning the tragedy has also struck close to the ecclesial and Catholic educational sphere.