Posted on 01/23/2021 6:08:22 PM PST by marshmallow
CNA Staff, Jan 22, 2021 / 01:00 pm MT (CNA).- Public Masses will be suspended in Portugal from Saturday, the country’s bishops have announced.
The Portuguese Episcopal Conference said on Jan. 21 that it was taking the step due to the “extreme gravity” of the coronavirus crisis, reported ACI Digital, CNA’s Portuguese-language news partner.
“Being aware of the extreme gravity of the pandemic situation that we are living in our country, we consider that it is a moral imperative for all citizens, and particularly for Christians, to have the maximum sanitary precautions to avoid contagion, contributing to overcoming this situation,” the bishops said in a statement.
Portugal is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 deaths. The country, which has a population of 10 million, has recorded 609,000 cases and 9,920 deaths as of Jan. 22, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
This is the second time that the bishops have suspended public worship. The first was in March 2020, when the pandemic arrived in the country located on the Iberian Peninsula, bordering Spain. The restrictions were eased at the end of May.
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