JERUSALEM (PA) – Christians in the Holy Land marked Good Friday without the mass pilgrimages usually seen in the days before Easter because of the coronavirus, and believers in many other predominantly Christian countries where the virus is still unleashing observed their second annual Week with tight restrictions on meetings.
In Jerusalem, many holy places were open, thanks to an ambitious Israeli vaccination campaign. It was a stark contrast to last year, when the city was closed. In neighboring Lebanon, Christians observed Good Friday under a blockade and suffered a severe economic crisis.
In Latin America, penitents from Mexico and Guatemala to Paraguay carried branches of thorn-covered trees and large crosses in the Passion Plays, reconstructing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. At the Vatican, Pope Francis presided over a torchlight procession in St. Peter’s Square, giving up for the second year the traditional procession of the Colosseum which attracts thousands of pilgrims, tourists and Romans.
Worshipers in the Philippines and France have marked the second annual Holy Week, under traffic restrictions, amid outbreaks caused by more contagious strains. In the United States, officials have urged Christians to celebrate outdoors, while socially or in virtual ceremonies.
In the Old City of Jerusalem, Franciscan brothers dressed in brown robes led hundreds of worshipers on Via Dolorosa, resuming what tradition claims to be Jesus’ last steps as they recited prayers through loudspeakers at the Cross Stations. Another group carried a large wooden cross, singing hymns and stopping to pray.
Religious sites were open to a limited number of believers. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, died and rose from the dead, was opened to visitors with masks and social distances.
Despite one of the most successful vaccination campaigns in the world, air travel to and from Israel is still limited by quarantine and other restrictions, keeping out foreign pilgrims who usually crowd Jerusalem during Holy Week. In past years, tens of thousands of pilgrims were to descend to the holy places of the city.
“In ordinary years, we urge people to come out. Last year I told people to stay home, “said Wadie Abunassar, a counselor to church leaders in the Holy Land.” This year we are somehow silent. “
“We have to pray for those who can’t be here,” said Alejandro Gonzalez, a Mexican living in Israel. “Those of us who can be here have the responsibility to take them into account and to walk the Way of the Cross through which they also pass.”
In Lebanon, Christians observed Good Friday amid a severe economic crisis, exacerbated by the massive explosion that demolished parts of the capital last year. Even traditional Easter sweets are a luxury that few can afford.
“People don’t even talk about the holiday,” says Majida Al Asaily, the owner of a candy store in Beirut. “We have not witnessed anything like this this year, despite the war and other difficulties we have faced before.”
At the Vatican, candles flickering in a breeze were placed in a circle around the central obelisk in St. Peter’s Square and along a path that led to steps outside St. Peter’s Basilica. There, Francis sat under a canopy in the dark on a warm evening, listening to the children read meditations composed by other children who recounted painful episodes in their lives.
A child wrote about loneliness in the COVID-19 pandemic, unable to visit his grandparents to protect them from contagion, and colleagues and teachers disappeared because schools in Italy were closed for long periods of time due to the blockade. Another wrote about the death of COVID-19’s grandfather without family members in a hospital.
At one point, Francis prayed that God would give people his hope so that “we could recognize you even in the darkest moments of our lives.”
Anti-pandemic measures have devastated tourism in Italy and greatly reduced religious pilgrimages to a spill. Only a few hundred participants, including prelates, were allowed to participate.
In the US, believers of all faiths have been urged to comply with COVID-related capacity restrictions at houses of worship, to comply with online services, and to take clothing and social measures at outdoor ceremonies.
The Congregation of the First Baptist Church in Medford, Wisconsin, organized graceful, discreet, and socially distant inner services that were broadcast live.
George Myers, pastor of the student ministries, focused on the last thing Jesus said on the cross: “It’s over.” These words were not about His death, but about the completion of the work He was sent to do, Myers said.
“So, FBC, don’t miss this. This is when Jesus abolished the curse of sin and the curse of death, ”Myers assured congregations.
At St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Padua, Denver, the festivities wearing face masks organized an elaborate outdoor reenactment of the Cross Stations, with Roman soldiers on horseback and ridiculous spectators wearing fake leather whips on a convicted Jesus Christ wearing a cross. . Police officers escorted the entourage through the neighborhood, while church workers handed face masks to those who did not wear them in the crowd.
In New York, Archbishop Timothy Dolan presided over a Feast of the Passion of the Lord at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which was attended by clergy and masked worshipers. The service, an evening ceremony of the Cross Stations and a reflection on the passion and death of Christ were broadcast on the Catholic channel on Sirius XM and broadcast live on the cathedral’s YouTube channel and website.
“We may be separated from a distance, but we are united in faith,” the archdiocese said in its invitation to Holy Week.
In France, a nationwide establishment at 7 p.m. forced parishes to advance Good Friday ceremonies during the day, drastically reduced or canceled traditional Catholic night processions. Nineteen departments in France are closed locally, where parishioners can attend Mass during the day if they sign the government’s “travel certificate”.
Notre Dame, devastated by fire, did not hold a Good Friday Mass this year, but the cathedral’s “Crown of Thorns” was worshiped by cathedral clerics in its new temporary liturgical center in the nearby church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois.
In Spain, there were no traditional processions for the second year in a row. Churches have limited the number of worshipers. Many parishes went online with Mass and prayers through video streaming services.
In the Philippines, the streets were extremely quiet, and religious gatherings were banned in the capital Manila and four outlying provinces. The government this week put the lively region of more than 25 million people, while rushing to contain an alarming increase in COVID-19 cases.
The Philippines had begun to reopen in hopes of reviving its suffering economy, but infections rose last month, apparently due to more contagious strains, increased public mobility and satisfaction.
In Kenya, all churches have been ordered to close as part of a ban on large gatherings to contain a worsening outbreak. Joseph Karinga went to his church anyway and prayed in front of the closed doors, in a garden next to an altar to Mary.
“I’ll just say my rosary here and go home,” he said.
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D’Emilio reported from Rome. Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut, Nicole Winfield in Rome, Thomas Adamson in Leeds, England, Aritz Parra in Madrid, David Zalubowski in Denver and Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines contributed.