In a letter dated Oct 7, but made public on several blogs Nov 9, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis said that Mass could continue to be celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal at five churches in Rome on all days except from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday, the period known as the Triduum.

De Donatis also stated that no other sacraments or sacramentals may be celebrated according to the pre-Vatican II missal except the Mass.

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De Donatis' office said he was tested for the virus after feeling unwell and was admitted to a Rome hospital. His closest aides had gone into voluntary quarantine as a precaution, a statement said.

A pope is also the bishop of Rome but appoints someone to act as his vicar to administrate the vast diocese. Read more

"My heart is in pieces," Father Maurizio Mirilli, a pastor of a Rome parish tweeted.

"I have to close everything, even the church ... I feel like a father whose children have been snatched from him."

At least one senior prelate immediately disobeyed edicts closing churches in Rome.

The Polish cardinal opened his church saying: "It is the act of disobedience, yes, I myself put the Blessed Sacrament out and opened my church."

"It did not happen under fascism, it did not happen under the Russian or Soviet rule in Poland - the churches were not closed," he said.

"This is an act that should bring courage to other priests."

Other critics said being allowed to pray in a church, albeit with precautions similar to those imposed on stores, should be seen as an essential service.

In Italy, customers must enter shops a few at a time, keep a safe distance from each other and wear surgical masks in some cases.

"Drastic measures are not always good," Francis said last Friday in a statement broadcast on television and the internet.

He then prayed that God give pastors "the strength and even the capacity to choose the best means to help," those suffering from the pandemic, "so that they can provide measures that do not leave the holy faithful people of God alone".

Less than a day after the Diocese of Rome issued a decree to close all churches to the public, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, vicar general of Rome, revised his instructions.

He explained that banning access to all churches in the diocese for three weeks could create "a greater sense of insecurity" among Catholics during this time of crisis.

He will leave the decision about closing churches to the discretion of parish priests, he said.

As a result of Donatis's change of instructions, many churches in Rome will now remain open.

Fewer than 300 will close. None of these have a parish community or are visited mostly by tourists.

Source

• US News
• Catholic News Agency
• Crux Now
• Reuters
• Image: Dreamstime.com

"Don't go looking for those who have shown they are prudent, measured and detail-oriented," Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, told pastors in the diocese of Rome last week.

Ideally, the teams should include "people who draw outside the lines, people whom the Holy Spirit has made passionate about imperfection."

The focus of the diocese for the 2019-2020 pastoral year is on "listening to the cry of the city" and responding to it.

The aim is for stronger parish communities, a greater focus on Sunday Mass, visiting the poor and lonely, providing concrete assistance to those in need and reaching out to young people and families.

While De Donatis suggests 12 people should serve on each pastoral team, the number is not a requirement.

"We do not need competent and qualified professionals as much as Christians who apparently are like everyone else but, in reality, are able to dream, to infect others with their dreams and want to experience something new," De Donatis says.

"Perhaps these are people you have tried to contain a bit up until now — frankly, they can be destabilising — but no more; you must draw them near, listen to them, value them and let them act so they can disturb the drowsy tranquility of others."

Donatis says once selected, the first thing the pastoral team should do is to go out into the parish neighbourhoods, talk to people, observe and then "map the characteristics" in light of the area's history and the lifestyle of residents.

The team should include the presence of schools, workplaces, places where people gather, pockets of greater poverty, areas of "social violence" and the presence of organized crime.

The team should meet with the pastor and catechists, leaders of parish groups and youth and young adult ministers often, De Donatis says.

Their aim will be to listen to their observations and brainstorm together about how to help all parishioners live their faith more openly and share it with others in the neighborhood.

De Donatis says he hopes this initiative will make the diocesan church "more attentive to others, more aware of people's deepest questions, more convinced of the Good News that it is called to proclaim and more sensitive to God's inspiration."

Source

• Catholic Herald
• Catholic News Service
• Image: Catholic News Agency