Catholics nationwide are set to celebrate the feast of the Black Nazarene days from now, but through the suggestion of Dr. John Wong, a member of the Inter-Agency Task Force technical working group during Malacañang’s virtual press briefing on Tuesday, January 4, the celebration is suspended for this year.
The National Task Force Against COVID-19 has already issued a resolution to suspend this year’s Traslacion – the famous Black Nazarene Statue procession in Metro Manila which devotees far and wide attend every 9th of January.
President Rodrigo Duterte has called on leaders and devotees of the Roman Catholic Church to forego religious activities as cases of COVID-19 continue to spike in the country’s National Capital Region (NCR) which as of press time is under Alert Level 3 until January 15.
“Maybe the priests or the bishops are listening. The government does not impose the rules now. It does not have a character of the imposition, but rather a request from the government for everybody to follow the guidelines set to prevent the widespread again of the superspreader (events),” Duterte said.
The president addressed Catholic leaders and members particularly in the nation’s capital city to restrain and cancel all physical gathering, religious processions and masses as the government threads in thin ice as the battle against coronavirus come at its peak again.
“If the Roman Catholic Church are listening, I am now appealing to you to forego and cancel all physical gatherings including the procession and the celebration of masses in churches,” Duterte said.
“There are millions of devotees there and you cannot just be complacent about the transmission of the disease,” he added.
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