Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma during the Chrism Mass and Renewal of Priestly Vows at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral on March 23, 2021 | Photo from The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cebu #CDNDigital
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Archdiocese of Cebu on Tuesday, March 23 reminded churches and devotees in the island-province to strictly follow minimum health standards in celebrating Holy Week.
During the Chrism Mass and Renewal of Commitment to Priestly Service on Tuesday, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma reiterated the guidelines the Archdiocese has released in line with the upcoming Holy Week.
In particular, Palma stressed their instructions not to hold crowd-gathering events such as Visita Iglesia and Processions next week.
“All over the province, there will be no Visita Iglesia. There will be no processions too, or opportunities to gather together. We will be having just a simple and basic celebration of the Holy Week and Easter Sunday,” said Palma in Cebuano.
“We are also asking for the public’s understanding considering that COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) cases are still rising,” he added.
Holy Week in the Philippines for this year will be held from March 28 to April 3. Easter Sunday falls on April 4.
It can be recalled that the Archdiocese, through its Commission on Worship, issued last March 2 the Guidelines for Lent, Holy Week, and Paschal Triduum Celebrations 2021 in time of COVID-19.
While they allowed faithfuls to attend events inside parish churches, the church sustained several policies implemented in 2020 at the height of the pandemic.
Vigils on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, prayer meetings, Pasyon or Pabasa inside chapels or homes, and crowd-drawing devotional processions such as Via Crucis on Fridays of Lent and within the days of the Holy Week, Pasos either on Holy Tuesday or Holy Wednesday, Visita Iglesia on Holy Thursday, Santo Entierro and La Soledad processions on Good Friday, Sugat at the dawn of Easter Sunday are still prohibited. /rcg
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