The Cardinal Archbishop of Valencia, Antonio Cañizares, has decreed “extraordinary measures” for the next Holy Week and has insisted that, due to the pandemic, “it is not advisable during this year to hold events and celebrations”, including “those in which use of public roads is made.”
In a statement sent by the Archdiocese, Cañizares justifies these measures with the intention of “to contribute to the attenuation of the expansion of the pandemic”, taking into consideration “the organizational complexity of the external manifestations of popular religiosity foreseen in those days, as well as in the time prior to Lent.”
As reflected in the decree issued by the Cardinal Archbishop, “unfortunately, the persistence of high levels of disease incidence, along with the announced forecasts for the distribution and application of vaccines, continue to advise against, for the coming months, in the opinion of the various health authorities consulted, the concentration of large groups of people, as well as the free circulation of these ”.
Therefore, after discussing it in the Episcopal Council, Cañizares has concluded that “it is not advisable during this year to celebrate the events and celebrations organized by parishes, brotherhoods and brotherhoods, associations of the faithful or other ecclesial groups that, being foreseen in their statutes or having been previously allowed by the ecclesiastical authority, have the character of external worship “.
It includes in these provisions “all those in which use of the public highway is made, until another decision is made in this regard.”
Instead, and particularly with regard to processions and stations of penance, the archbishop provides that “each parish priest or chaplain, in collaboration with the associations of the faithful, brotherhoods and brotherhoods affected, organize the most opportune prayer or celebration for this time of pandemic, following the liturgical indications of the Diocesan Liturgy Delegation “.
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