Push Admin

Manila Catholic churches adapt to dodge new coronavirus

Article (news)

ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/reuters/03/12/20200226-china-health-ash-wednesday.jpg"/><figcaption>A Filipino Catholic wearing a protective mask amid a coronavirus scare kneels to pray during a mass on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020. <em>Eloisa Lopez, Reuters</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA - Catholic churches in the capital will change some customs to keep worshipers safe from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the archdiocese&#x27;s caretaker said Thursday.</p><p>Worshipers are urged to refrain from touching the statue of saints, holding hands during the Mass, and doing the &quot;mano po&quot; for priests or pressing one&#x27;s forehead to an elder&#x27;s hand, said Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo.</p><p>Fonts at the entrances of churches will also be drained of holy water, which will be sprinkled instead on parishioners after the Mass. Church entrances will also have rubbing alcohol for worshipers, he said.</p><p>Catholics who feel unwell should refrain from attending Mass and instead watch a livestreaming of the rites on Radio Veritas and TV Maria, read the Bible and pray, he said.</p><p>&quot;Tinitingnan din po kasi natin pati kalagayan sa buong mundo, kalagayan sa Pilipinas,&quot; he told DZMM.</p><p>(This is because we are looking at the situation in the whole world, in the Philippines.)</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kIjyfP_XsP0?enablejsapi=1"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>The Philippines, with its 100 million people, is the bastion of Roman Catholicism in Asia, with 8 in 10 people subscribing to the faith. The religion was brought by Spanish colonizers in the 1500s.</p><p>Authorities have confirmed 49 cases of the novel coronavirus in the country. President Rodrigo Duterte declared on Monday a state of public health emergency to arrest the pathogen&#x27;s spread.</p><p>The World Health Organization on Wednesday classified COVID-19 as a pandemic, as cases rose to more than 124,000, with over 4,500 deaths.</p>

<p>Catholic churches in the capital will change some customs to keep worshipers safe from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the archdiocese's caretaker said Thursday.</p>

Catholic churches in the capital will change some customs to keep worshipers safe from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the archdiocese's caretaker said Thursday.