Concerned by the prolonged drought that has affected Catalonia, the Catholics of Barcelona decided to appeal to God’s mercy during the days of prayer, which ended on Saturday with a procession that had to be stopped in some places due to… rain, News .ro writes.

“It started raining just as we started the novena (nine-day prayer) and it seems the heaviest rain happened today during the procession in Barcelona,” noted with pleasure Guillaume Gottschalk, secretary of the Archfraternity of the Blood of Christ, which organized the event.

Intermittent rain did not prevent believers who carried the statue of Christ on the Cross to walk after dark through the narrow streets of the historic center of this large city in northeastern Spain under the amazed gaze of tourists.

Carrying candles and chanting prayers, several dozen people, led by the city’s Cardinal Archbishop Juan Jose Omella, dressed in the traditional black tunics of the confraternities, escorted the statue, which sometimes had to be covered with plastic to protect it from the elements. This image of the crucified Christ, located in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Pi, has traditionally been the object of votive prayers, but since the mid-20th century it has not been carried specifically for processions to invoke rain.

“Given the obvious need for rain, it was decided to remove the statue, which was traditionally transported to Barcelona for this type of wish,” explains Guillaume Gottschalk.

The novena, which ended with this procession and divine service, “seems to have had good results because it started to rain,” rejoiced Nuria Prat, a 59-year-old art restorer, before the Eucharist.

Water reserves are at critical levels

But the water that fell on Barcelona on Saturday does not appear to be enough to offset the severe drought that has affected the region, one of Spain’s most economically dynamic regions. After more than three years of below-normal rainfall, Catalonia’s regional government declared a state of emergency last month due to drought affecting some six million people, mostly in and around Barcelona.

Given the critical water reserves (reservoir capacity is 14.4%), new restrictions have been introduced, especially in agriculture, animal husbandry and industry.

Although droughts are not uncommon in this Mediterranean part of Spain, the potential consequences of water shortages at this time of year are worrisome. “2008 was very dry, but not like today,” says Pau Ruata, 69, referring to the previous long drought of 18 months. Any help is welcome for this pensioner, who went through the whole procession with a candle in her hands. “It may sound like a joke that we almost couldn’t do this procession because of the rain, but we still need a lot of water because the ground is still dry,” he notes.