Despite virus, Pope holds Ash Wednesday
Pope Francis celebrated the Ash Wednesday ritual that marks the opening of the Catholic Church’s Lenten season in traditional fashion while greeting the public in Rome as other Masses were canceled in northern Italy over fears of the coronavirus outbreak.
Francis and a long line of priests, bishops and cardinals walked in a procession through Rome’s Aventine hill into the Santa Sabina basilica for a Mass. Neither the priests nor the faithful wore face masks, but Rome has largely been spared the virus as Italy’s national case count grew to 400.
Other Catholic countries took Ash Wednesday precautions. In the Philippines — Asia’s only majority Roman Catholic country — priests sprinkled ashes on the heads of the faithful rather than making the mark of the cross to avoid physical contact.
At the Vatican, Francis held his general audience as usual in St. Peter’s Square and offered prayers to people sickened by the virus and the medical personnel treating them. In the crowd of thousands, a handful wore masks.
Francis kissed at least one child as he looped through the square in his popemobile and made a point to shake hands with the faithful sitting in the front row. Usually, he only waves. He also greeted prelates with a handshake, but it appeared most clergy refrained from kissing his ring or embracing him.
In his remarks, he urged the faithful to put down their cellphones during Lent and pick up the Bible instead.
“It is the time to give up useless words, chatter, rumors, gossip, and talk and to speak directly to the Lord,” he said.
On Good Friday, which marks Christ’s death on the cross, bishops in the Philippines suggested churchgoers refrain from kissing or touching the cross.
In the U.S., the Episcopal church’s diocese in Newark, New Jersey, issued new guidelines, advising clergy to make hand sanitizer available for parishioners to use before and after contact with others during communion.
Last month, the bishops recommended that Catholics receive the Eucharistic host by the hand instead of the mouth and avoid holding hands in prayer during Masses as precautions amid the viral scare.