Virus casts shadow over Easter commemorations across world
Christians in the Holy Land marked Easter without the mass pilgrimages usually seen in the days leading up to Easter because of the coronavirus, and worshippers in many other predominantly Christian countries where the virus is still raging observed their second annual Holy Week with tight restrictions on gatherings.
In Jerusalem, many holy sites were open, thanks to an ambitious Israeli vaccination campaign. In neighbouring Lebanon, Christians observed Good Friday under a lockdown and suffering a severe economic crisis.
In Latin America, penitents from Mexico and Guatemala to Paraguay carried tree branches covered with thorns and large crosses in Passion Plays re-enacting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. At the Vatican, Pope Francis presided over a torch-lit Way of the Cross ceremony in St Peter’s Square, foregoing for a second year the traditional Colosseum procession that draws thousands of pilgrims, tourists and Romans.
Worshippers in the Philippines and France marked a second annual Holy Week under movement restrictions amid outbreaks fanned by more contagious strains. In the US, officials urged Christians to celebrate outdoors while social distancing, or in virtual ceremonies.
In Jerusalem’s Old City, Franciscan friars in brown robes led hundreds of worshippers down the Via Dolorosa, retracing what tradition holds were Jesus’ final steps, while reciting prayers through loudspeakers at the Stations of the Cross. Another group carried a large wooden cross, singing hymns and pausing to offer prayers.
Religious sites were open to limited numbers of faithful. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, died and rose from the dead, was open to visitors with masks and social distancing.
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 few can afford.
At the Vatican, candles flickering in a breeze were placed in a circle around St Peter’s Square central obelisk and along a path leading to steps outside St Peter’s Basilica. There, Francis sat under a canopy in the darkness listening to children reading meditations that recounted sorrowful episodes in their lives.
In France, a nationwide 7pm curfew forced parishes to move Good Friday ceremonies forward in the day, the traditional Catholic night processions drastically scaled back or cancelled. Nineteen departments in France are on localised lockdowns, where parishioners can attend daytime Mass if they sign the government’s “travel certificate”.
Fire-ravaged Notre Dame did not hold a Good Friday Mass this year, but the cathedral’s “Crown of Thorns” was being venerated by the cathedral’s clergy at its new temporary liturgical hub in the nearby church of Saint-germain-l’auxerrois.
In Spain, there were no traditional processions for a second year in a row. Many parishes went online with Mass and prayers via video streaming services.