Several days prior, Andrea, who is 18, had sent a letter to Pope Francis to "correct" him because, during the time of the coronavirus, he invites those present inside the chapel for his daily livestreamed Masses to make the Sign of Peace, typically expressed with a handshake or a kiss.

According to Francis, the youth told him, "You say, ‘Peace be with you,' but you can't say that because in the pandemic we can't touch each other." Read more

Bishop Milton Kenan Junior of Barretos issued a decree on the distribution of Communion, the exchange of peace and norms for extraordinary ministers.

The bishop stated that during the exchange of peace, the faithful should avoid moving around too much.

The priest celebrating the Mass "should not leave the altar" to greet the faithful.

The prelate also explained that on feasts or celebrations such as Easter, Christmas, a confirmation, marriage, ordination, or a funeral Mass, "the rite of peace is not a time for ‘congratulations, Merry Christmas', ‘Happy Easter', or any other type of greeting".

Bishop Kenan Junior referenced the 2014 instruction from the Congregation for Divine Worship on the meaning of the gift of peace at Mass.

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Fort Worth diocese is near Dallas, where three Ebola cases have been diagnosed.

The guidelines include not taking the Blood of Christ at Mass and the faithful not holding hands while praying the Our Father.

The Sign of Peace should not involve physical contact, but some other gesture, the guidelines added.

Priests should use an alcohol-based solution on their hands before and after distributing Holy Communion.

Priests should not distribute Communion if they feel ill, and should discourage parishioners who feel sick from coming to church.

Such restrictions are common during flu season, the diocese emphasised.

But the guidelines did make mention of Ebola.

The US federal government is trying to include faith communities in its efforts to prevent the spread of Ebola, inviting them to join in a conference call on Saturday with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Diocese of Dallas has not issued similar guidelines to Fort Worth's, but Ebola is much on Bishop Kevin Farrell's mind.

He offered prayers for the health care workers grappling with Ebola, expressed confidence in local health care authorities and wrote that "this is a time for our community to respond with calmness and compassion".

Meanwhile, Catholic nurse Nina Pham, the first person to contract Ebola within the US, has received blood serum from a survivor.

A priest at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Fort Worth said Ms Pham's mother told him she has seen and spoken to her daughter using Skype, and that she is in good spirits.

Authorities do not know how Ms Pham contracted the disease, as she is believed to have followed hospital protocols in treating an Ebola patient, who since died.

Sources

• Religion News Service
• Star Telegram
• Image: Real Clear

West Africa is faces a worsening crisis from the disease.

Nigerian priests in some dioceses have also been advised to refrain from giving Communion on the tongue, unless the communicant insists.

But priests have been warned not to let their hands touch the tongues of communicants.

Nigeria's bishops are expected to discuss these measures again next week.

Ebola is spread by contact with human body fluids.

Archbishop Adewale Martins of Lagos told priests that the Sign of Peace is optional, a point re-iterated by a recent circular from the Vatican.

The archbishop also ordered that holy water fonts be discontinued.

Priests were advised to exercise extreme care when visiting patients and to clean their hands with a hand sanitiser after anointing the sick.

Those counting the collection at Mass have been asked to wear protective gloves.

Special intercessory prayers to be said for the sick at Mass have also been distributed.

There have been 10 Ebola cases in Nigeria recently, with at least two deaths.

Nearby Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have had nearly 1000 deaths.

All these nations have declared a state of emergency to authorise additional funds to combat the crisis.

The current Ebola outbreak is on pace to infect more people than all previous outbreaks of the virus combined.

The disease has no known cure or vaccine.

A recent fatality was a Congolese nun, who contracted Ebola while working with Spanish Catholic missionaries in Liberia.

The Spanish government says a Catholic priest, infected with Ebola in Liberia, will be treated with an experimental drug, Zmapp, in a hospital in Madrid.

The drug has been used in the US on two aid workers who have shown signs of improvement.

The World Health Organisation has declared an international health emergency.

Sources

• Premium Times
• Sun News
• Voice of America
• BBC
• The Guardian
• Image: New York Times

In a recent circular, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments listed several "abuses" of the Sign of Peace that are to be stopped.

These are:

• the introduction of a "song of peace," which does not exist in the Roman rite.
• the faithful moving from their place to exchange the sign.
• the priest leaving the altar to exchange the sign with the faithful.
• at occasions such as holidays, weddings or funerals, people offering greetings, congratulations or condolences.

 
The circular was approved by Pope Francis.

Bishops' conferences were asked to consider "changing the way in which the exchange of peace is made".

In particular, "familiar and worldly gestures of greeting" should be substituted with "other, more appropriate gestures".

"If the faithful do not understand and do not show, in their ritual gestures, the true significance of the rite of peace, they are weakened in the Christian concept of peace, and their fruitful participation in the Eucharist is negatively affected," the circular stated.

But the congregation rejected a move to shift the Sign of Peace to before the Offertory in Mass.

In a July 28 memo, Fr Jose Maria Gil Tamayo, secretary general of the Spanish bishops' conference, said this was done out of consideration of the placement of the rite of peace as "a characteristic of the Roman rite".

Fr Gil added it was held not to be "suitable for the faithful to introduce structural changes in the Eucharistic Celebration, at this time."

But the congregation said, "if it is foreseen that [the Sign of Peace] will not take place properly", it can be omitted.

At the 2005 synod of bishops on the Eucharist, the possibility of moving the rite was discussed.

There has been dialogue with the world's bishops, in consultation with both popes, on the matter.

Benedict XVI wrote of concerns about exaggerated gestures and distractions before Communion in his post-synodal apostolic exhortation "Sacramentum caritatis".

Placing the Sign of Peace before the Offertory would have brought the Roman Rite in line with the Ambrosian Rite, celebrated in Milan.

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• The Tablet
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: National Catholic Reporter