JERUSALEM, Monday, March 30, 2020 (WAFA) – The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has announced a decision to omit the traditional Palm Sunday procession in the occupied city of Jerusalem over coronavirus.

In his guidelines for the celebration of the Holy Week following restrictions due to COVID-19, the apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa announced that the procession of Palm Sunday will be “omitted”.

“The rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world and in the territories of our diocese has resulted in serious and drastic ations in our ability to participate in divine worship,” he said.

“The heart of Holy Week celebrations is obviously in the Holy Sepulcher. Following the restrictions determined by the civil authorities, it is therefore necessary for the celebrations at the Holy Sepulcher to be reduced accordingly, relative to the Corona Virus and in addition to the previously prescribed Status Quo agreements,” he added.

“The procession of the palms is omitted. However, I invite all parish priests to do everything possible to make available to their faithful the previously blessed olive branches and bottles of holy water for the faithful to take home,” he elaborated.

The Catholic church, among other churches in Jerusalem, has issued instructions closing churches and asked the faithful to attend the masses through live broadcast as part of the precautions against the spread of the novel coronavirus.

K.F.