Coronavirus concerns are seeing Catholics being told not to touch or kiss the Cross during veneration on Good Friday.
In the Philippines, updated liturgical guidelines issued by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference and posted on Twitter step up the precautionary measures the Conference announced in January.
With the addition of the latest decree – that during Veneration of the Cross participants “make a profound bow” before the Cross”, recent changes to the liturgical guidelines have included advising priests to:
Distribute the Eucharist in communicants’ hands rather than their mouths.
Place protective cloths over the screens of confessionals.
Change the holy water in church fonts regularly.
Ask the faithful not to hold hands during the “Our Father” and not to shake hands during the sign of peace.
The Conference also “strongly recommends”:
Priests distribute ashes on Ash Wednesday (this week) by “dropping or sprinkling a small portion of blessed ash on the crown of the head of the faithful,” rather than rubbing them on the person’s forehead.
With around 75,000 confirmed cases across the globe, 27 countries are now affected by the virus.
The majority of cases remain in China. South Korea has 104 infected people and has reported its first death.
Three quarters of the more than 2,000 deaths attributed to the virus have been in a single region of China, Hubei province.
Source
- The Tablet
- Image: Mindanews