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CBCP on Traslacion: Church closed but masses to proceed on Facebook
By RICHA NORIEGA,GMA NewsMasses which will mark the Catholics' observance of the Feast of the Black Nazarene will proceed even if devotees are banned from the Quiapo Church, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said on Wednesday.
CBCP spokesman Fr. Jerome Secillano said the masses would be aired on Facebook where the faithful can watch to attend.
Secillano said the Quiapo Church had already decided that Traslacion 2022 would be suspended
following the spike in COVID-19 cases.“Well unang-una hindi natin pwedeng kanselahin yung misa, as in total na wala talagang celebration," Secillano said on GMA's Balitanghali.
"Kaya nga ine-air namin ito sa Facebook. So maaring 'yung mga tao hindi pwedeng magpunta sa simbahan, then so be it,” he added.
[First of all, we cannot cancel the mass as in totally have no celebration. We will have a celebration. The devotees should not be deprived so we are airing it on Facebook. If the people were not allowed to go to the church, then so be it.]
“Pero hindi naman pwede na hindi kami mag-celebrate ng mass. Magce-celebrate pa rin kami ng misa at yung tao naman ay pwedeng manood na lang sa Facebook,” Secillano said.
[However, it will not be acceptable that we won't celebrate mass. We can still celebrate mass and the people can just watch it on Facebook.]
President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday urged the suspension of mass gatherings, including the traditional Traslacion and the mass for the Black Nazarene, due to the rising cases of COVID-19 infections in the country.
Duterte was echoing the sentiments of the Department of Health, which at the same briefing urged the suspension of the yearly procession during the Feast of the Black Nazarene.
The Traslacion is the annual procession that carries the statue of the Black Nazarene from Quirino Grandstand back to Quiapo Church and takes place on January 9.
It usually attracts millions of Filipinos from all corners of the country.
Last year, however, the procession was cancelled
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Secillano said parish priests would not insist on conducting mass gatherings and processions. He said these would need permission and permits from the local government unit.
“Kung papansinin ninyo itong nagdaang buwan at taon kapag may ganitong pagspike ng kaso ng COVID-19 ay wala talaga tayong nakikitang nagproprosisyon,” Secillano said.
[If you noticed these past months and years, we don't really have a procession whenever there is a spike in the COVID-19 cases.]
Secillano said church leaders were responsible as shown by several churches temporarily closing due to COVID-19 infections.
“So dito natin makikita na very responsible ang mga pamunuan ng simbahan kasi kapag alam nila na meron talagang kaso ay hindi nila pinipilit na buksan 'yung simbahan," Secillano said.
"So they took upon themselves to close the church,” he added.
[We can see that the church leaders are very responsible. When they know that there is really a COVID-19 case, they will not open the church to the public. So they took upon themselves to close the church.]
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila (RCAM) has reported that some parishes had temporarily closed after some priests and staff members tested positive for COVID-19.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) placed the National Capital Region (NCR) under Alert Level 3 from January 3 to 15, 2022, following the sharp increase in new COVID-19 cases.
—NB, GMA News