Bishop eases rules on meat in Lent, absolution for ill
On a day when the Vatican offered broad relief from the obligations of penitents amid the coronavirus crisis, Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik on Friday issued new directives easing these and other requirements for local Catholics.
Priests can offer “general absolution” to the faithful in health care facilities if they can’t enter or reach the entire population due to the pandemic.
Priests can also receive confessions in parking lots, which were previously not authorized during a review several days ago of policies maintaining both the sacraments and social distancing.
And because of shortages of some grocery items, Bishop Zubik waived the normal requirement that Catholics avoid meat on Fridays in Lent, except on Good Friday.
The Vatican said in circumstances where it’s difficult for priests to hear individual confessions during the contagion, priests can issue a general absolution, or forgiveness of all in a particular place, without people having to individually confess sins ahead of time. The Vatican left the implementation to local bishops if they determine the conditions are severe enough to warrant it.
Bishop Zubik said in a statement that he was authorizing general absolution in certain circumstances.
“Therefore, in hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities, where a priest is not allowed to personally interact with patients or staff due to COVID-19 restrictions, he may grant general absolution,” he wrote in a statement. “The faithful are to know that he is offering absolution and his voice should be able to be heard by those receiving absolution,” such as through a public-address system or other means.
The Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary, an arm of the church that deals with matters of conscience, also offered a “plenary indulgence” to those affected by the virus, to health care workers combating it and to other faithful who pray for them. Such faithful also have to undertake certain acts of devotion. This is offered because people are living in a time “marked day after day by anguished fears, new uncertainties, and above all widespread physical and moral suffering,” the Vatican said.
A plenary indulgence, in Catholic teaching, relieves Catholics of their time in purgatory where, even after being forgiven their sins, they would endure a time after death of paying for the temporal or earthly impact of their sins.
Bishop Zubik said of waiving the no-meat requirement on Fridays in Lent: “As you are aware, many of the shelves and cases in our supermarkets are sparse if not empty. This is a time when pastoral necessity has informed my decision effective today.”
Because of the close quarters of confessionals, the bishop had already directed priests to hold confessions in a larger but confidential space, such as a chapel. But on Friday, he authorized them in parking lots, as long as
privacy can be maintained. He put out a plea to media not to show up at such confessions.
The bishop said he’s asking the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference to ask Gov. Tom Wolf to issue an exemption allowing priests to perform the sacrament of anointing the sick in nursing homes and hospitals.
Bishop Zubik also announced a day of fasting for protection against the coronavirus and for all who are suffering in its wake for Tuesday and a day of prayer for Wednesday.
“A number of suggestions and resources for that day are listed on the diocesan website (https://diopitt.org/day-of-fasting-andprayer),” according to a release.