Church

MANILA - Several dioceses in Metro Manila have suspended public gatherings including worship services and Masses amid coronavirus outbreak.

At least four dioceses have now suspended public worship for the coming weeks after the government has put the Metro under a lockdown.

In Manila, the first to release an instruction, Masses and other public gatherings in the archdiocese will be suspended from March 14 to 20.

But Manila administrator Bishop Broderick Pabillo said parish churches and chapels will remain open to the faithful.

VATICAN — Pope Francis entrusted to Jesus’ mother the suffering and anguish of millions of people affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

In a video message broadcast March 11, the pope prayed before a portrait of Our Lady of Divine Love, beseeching her to “not disdain the entreaties of we who are in trial” but to “deliver us from every danger.”

MLANG, North Cotabato – The Shrine of the Holy Cross in Barangay New Rizal here will be opened to pilgrims during the Holy Week celebration in April, officials said.

On Tuesday, Mlang Mayor Russel M. Abonado and Father Tony Lupiba, DCK discussed the activities at the shrine during the Lenten Season.

It has been a tradition that every year, thousands of pilgrims visit the shrine to pray.

The Shrine of the Holy Cross was built by the Oblate missionaries and later turned over to the Diocese of Kidapwan.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has released a liturgical guideline for the Lenten season as a precautionary measure to reduce transmission of the coronavirus.

For Ash Wednesday, the bishops’ conference suggested the sprinkling of ashes on the crown of the head instead of marking the forehead with a cross to avoid body contact.

Archbishop Romulo Valles, CBCP President, said that the ashes to imposed on the crown “signify our repentance from sin, which has marred the grace of Baptism”.

HONG KONG — The threat of spreading the coronavirus has forced Catholic officials in Hong Kong to suspend all church programs Feb. 15-28, including Sunday Masses and the Ash Wednesday liturgy that marks the beginning of Lent.

Ucanews.com reported Cardinal John Tong, apostolic administrator of Hong Kong, said the “disappointing” decision had been made “because the next two weeks will be a crucial time to suppress the epidemic.”

“Some church members may be disappointed” with the diocesan move, the cardinal said in his Feb. 13 pastoral letter. “This is not an easy decision.”

IMUS, Cavite - Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle bid farewell to his hometown of Imus in Cavite on Monday before his expected transfer to Rome.

In a Mass at Our Lady of the Pillar, he thanked all those who attended the celebration, including some public officials.

“This kind of celebration gives me strength,” a teary-eyed Cardinal Tagle said.

It was the same cathedral where the cardinal was baptized a Catholic, and where he was ordained priest in 1982 and bishop in 2001.

VATICAN— Pope Francis baptized 32 babies in the Sistine Chapel Sunday, telling parents not to worry if their children cry at Mass.

“Let the children cry,” the pope said. “It is a beautiful homily when a child cries in church, a beautiful homily.”

On the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Pope Francis celebrated Mass on Jan. 12 with the parents and godparents of 17 boys and 15 girls, who were baptized surrounded by Michelangelo’s frescoes.

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Bishpo Jose Colin Bagaforo of the Diocese of Kidapawan has raised the alarm against scammers who have duped people by using the names of bishops without their consent for a bogus project to repair churches damaged by natural calamities.

Bishop Bagaforo posted on his Facebook account about how scammers used his name and other bishops in soliciting donations through bank deposits.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila led thousands of devotees in prayers for peace as tensions mount between the United States and Iran following the assassination of a top Iranian general.

Few days after Iran warned of retaliation for the Jan. 3 US airstrike that killed General Qassem Soleimani, the cardinal said that “a threat of danger and violence is felt in some parts of the world”.

Pope Francis Thursday prayed for the people of the Philippines, who were hit Christmas Day by a typhoon which has killed more than a dozen people and caused extensive damage.

“I join in the pain that hit the dear population of the Philippines because of the typhoon Phanfone,” the pope said Dec. 26, at the end of his Angelus address.

Typhoon Phanfone first struck the Eastern Samar province of the Philippines as a Category 1 hurricane Dec. 24, continuing across the islands of the Eastern Visayas region into southern Luzon and Western Visayas Dec. 25.