Coronavirus Covid-19: mgr. Gadecki (Episcopal Conference of Poland), “celebrating more Masses to avoid overcrowding the churches”. Prayers at Jasna Gora

“I wish to remind you that, just like the diseases of the body are treated in the hospitals, the churches also help treat the diseases of the soul, and therefore it is unimaginable that no prayers are said in our churches”, mgr. Stanisław Gadecki, president of the Episcopal Conference of Poland, wrote in a release, encouraging to increase the number of Sunday Masses, so that, in compliance with the health authorities’ provisions, “no masses of people gather” in the churches. In Poland, in the last few days, the number of people infected with coronavirus are multiplying, though the disease appeared there much later than in the other European countries. The release, issued yesterday, also mentions that Sunday Mass is regularly broadcast by several radio stations and by the state TV, and that elderly and sick people can attend it from their homes. It also insists that, during the liturgy, people do not have to shake hands in the sign of peace. To “get rid of coronavirus”, the Polish devotees have been praying since last night at Jasna Góra, the country’s most important sanctuary, as well as in quite a lot of churches all over the country, such as in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, a place that was beloved by John Paul II, where people go to ask for the intercession of the Virgin and of the Polish Franciscan friar Simon of Lipnica.
Valentina Bombelli