VATICAN CITY, April 12 — Pope Francis will break with centuries of tradition and livestream Easter Sunday mass to allow the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics celebrate their holiest holiday under a coronavirus lockdown. Fear and confusion in the face of a disease whose official death toll has...
Pope Francis praying during Easter’s Holy Saturday Vigil held behind closed doors at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, April 11, 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown. — Vatican Media handout via AFP
Even such hallowed traditions as the pope’s messages to the faithful on Saint Peter’s Square have been replaced by prayers that Francis reads into a camera from the seclusion of his private library. “We have to respond to our confinement with all our creativity,” Francis said in an interview published by several Catholic newspapers this week.The pope’s virtual prayers are just the most vivid example of religious improvisation in the age of social distancing and confinement. The faithful have already followed his advice and found creative solutions.
The Catholic Church in the Philippines is urging the faithful not to kiss the cross. Its Orthodox counterpart in Greece is planning to hold mass behind closed doors for its Easter on April 19.
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