PUBLIC MASSES RESUME IN VATICAN CITY

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis inaugurated the full reopening of St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday and Catholic churches held public Masses for the first time in two months in the latest easing of Italy’s coronavirus restrictions.

Francis said a private mass in a side chapel where St. John Paul II is buried to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the late Polish pope’s birth.

The basilica, which on Friday underwent a sanitising to make it as cornavirus-free as possible, later opened to the public for masses by priests on other side altars.

Signs in English and Italian told those entering that they had to keep at least 1.5 metres (five feet) apart, wear masks and sanitise their hands.

Churches throughout Italy began holding masses under strict new guidelines worked out between the country’s bishops and government.