Pope Francis called for solidarity the world over to confront the “epochal challenge” posed by the coronavirus pandemic, as Christians celebrated a solitary Easter Sunday, blending the joyful feast day with sorrow over the toll the virus has already taken.
Pope Francis called for solidarity the world over to confront the “epochal challenge” posed by the coronavirus pandemic, as Christians celebrated a solitary Easter Sunday, blending the joyful feast day with sorrow over the toll the virus has already taken.
Families that normally would attend morning Mass wearing their Easter best and later join friends for celebratory lunches hunkered down at home. Police checkpoints in Europe and closed churches around the globe left the faithful with the only option to watch Easter services online or on TV.
A few lucky Rome residents attended Mass from their balconies overlooking Santa Emerenziana church in the northern Trieste neighbourhood, where a priest celebrated a rooftop open-air service.
“We feel close to each other despite this distance,” parishioner Luca Rosati said from his balcony. “We can experience from here what we normally would experience inside the church, as a community.”
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Pope Francis called on Sunday for global solidarity in fighting the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout, urging the relaxation of international sanctions, debt relief for poor nations and ceasefires in all conflicts. 0:52
At Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified and entombed, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa urged the faithful to not be discouraged.
“The message of Easter is that life, despite all, will prevail,” Pizzaballa said during Mass attended by a few clerics, with the streets of the surrounding Old City devoid of pilgrims and vendors.
Across Africa, many Christians marked Easter at home, following services broadcast on television and radio. In Nigeria’s capital, a Catholic Mass was celebrated in Lagos’s empty cathedral, while Congo braced for a battle with both COVID-19 and an ongoing Ebola outbreak.
Christians in Canada also celebrated the holiday in self-isolation.
Paul-André Durocher, Archbishop of Gatineau, said Catholic churches in Canada are treating the pandemic as a “time of creativity,” turning to new technologies to continue old traditions while churches are closed during the holy week.
“We recognize that this is very hard for many of our Catholic faithful. It’s also hard for our priests, because for them it is the high point of the liturgical year,” he said.
Durocher said some priests were holding mass through platforms like Zoom, while others broadcast their celebrations on YouTube and Facebook Live.
“They’re celebrating mass alone, but making it available to their parishes that way,” he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trude