Polish Church wants more Masses amid coronavirus outbreak

Churches in Poland should increase the number of Sunday Masses to avoid too many people gathering at once, the head of the Polish bishops’ conference has said.

“Just as hospitals treat illnesses of the body, the church is there to heal illnesses of the soul. That’s why it’s unimaginable that we should not pray in our churches,” Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki said.

“With regards to the demands of the Chief Sanitation Inspector for there not to be mass gatherings of people, we ask for the enlargement – if possible – of the number of Sunday Masses in churches, so the appropriate number of churchgoers can participate in a Mass at a given moment.”

Archbishop Gadecki added that elderly and sick Catholics can stay at home and watch Mass on television or listen on the radio.

His advice comes as Rome suspends all public Masses until April 3 due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

“The Church of Rome… assumes an attitude of full responsibility towards the community in the awareness that protection from contagion requires even drastic measures, especially in interpersonal contact. Therefore, until the same date of April 3, the communal liturgical celebrations are suspended,” Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, vicar general of Rome, said on Sunday evening.

Churches remain open for private prayer.