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Gulf Pine Catholic • March 20, 2020 19 Update: Vatican says public will not be admitted to papal Holy Week liturgies BY CINDY WOODEN Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican office that distributes free tickets to papal events has posted a notice on its website that “the liturgical celebrations of Holy Week will take place without the physical pres- ence of the faithful.” While public gatherings, including Masses, have been banned in Italy through April 3, Holy Week begins with the Palm Sunday liturgy April 5, so the notifica- tion from the Prefecture of the Papal Household was read as a sign that the ban would be extended, at least at the Vatican. Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, told Catholic News Service early March 15 that arrange- ments for the pope’s Holy Week and Easter schedules were “still under study” and that the prefecture’s note was meant only to inform people seeking tickets that they would not be distributed as usual. The prefecture’s notice said the decision was made “because of the current global public health emergen- cy” posed by the spread of the coronavirus. In a formal statement March 15, Bruni said Pope Francis would celebrate all of the Holy Week and Easter liturgies: Palm Sunday, the chrism Mass, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the liturgy of the Passion of the Lord, the Easter vigil Mass and Easter morning Mass. However, he said, the Vatican still is studying how those liturgies will take place and with what kind of participation “that respects the security measures in place to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.” The decisions will be communicated, “as soon as they are determined, in line with the evolving epide- miological situation,” he said, adding that whatever decisions are made about who can or cannot attend, the liturgies will be transmitted and streamed live. The Prefecture of the Papal Household posted its notice late March 14, hours after the Italian Ministry of Health released daily figures for the COVID-19 infec- tion, which continues to spread despite the entire coun- try being on lockdown. As of the evening of March 14, the ministry said, 21,157 people had tested positive for COVID-19; 1,441 people with the virus had died; and 1,966 were consid- ered cured after testing negative twice. Pope Francis greets the crowd after celebrating Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican April 14, 2019. This year, the Vatican office that distributes free tickets to papal events has posted a notice on its website that “the liturgical celebrations of Holy Week will take place without the physical presence of the faithful.” CNS photo/Paul Haring Pandemic a time of understanding value of brotherhood, cardinal says VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While the coronavirus pandemic gripping the world highlights the frailty of human life, it is also an opportunity for people to unite in solidarity, a Vatican official said. “For each person, believer or nonbeliever, this is a good time to understand the value of brotherhood, of being linked to one another in an indissoluble way,” Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said in a statement March 11. It is “a time in which, in the horizon of faith, the value of solidarity which springs from the love that is sacrificed for others, helps us to see the ‘other’ -- per- son, people, or nation -- not as just as an instrument, but as our ‘counterpart,’ a ‘helper,’ made to share with us in the banquet of life to which all people are equally invited by God,” he wrote. The Italian government has taken drastic measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected thousands in the country, especially in the northern regions of Lombardy and Emilia Romagna. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced March 11 that all businesses, restaurants and bars would be closed except for supermarkets, pharmacies and essential services. We want to print your news! Please send your parish, student and school news items to: tdickson@biloxidiocese.org ; or fax to: (228) 702-2128; mail to: Gulf Pine Catholic 1790 Popps Ferry Road, Biloxi, MS 39532. Advertising deadline is 10 am, news deadline is 4 p.m. Thursdays, 8 days before publication date.