The Italian government has announced that the public celebration of Mass will resume from May 18 under new social distancing and hygiene rules. This comes after a long negotiation between the Bishops’ Conference (CEI) and State representatives.
Originally when Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte presented the details of “Phase 2” of the lockdown beginning May 4, no date for the return of public masses was announced. During a TV briefing on April 26th, Mr Conte explained that only funerals with no more than 10 people in attendance would be permitted in a church.
That same evening the Italian Bishops’ Conference strongly protested. “We remind the Prime Minister and the Technical-Scientific Committee the duty to distinguish between their responsibility, which is to give precise indications about health matters, and that of the Church, which is called to organise the life of the Christian community, following the measures which have been established but also in fullness of its own autonomy. The Italian Bishops cannot accept seeing freedom of worship being compromised. It should be clear to everyone that the commitment to serving the poor, which is so significant during this emergency, stems from a faith that must be nourished at its sources, especially the sacramental life”, they said in a press release.
On the following day, Mr Conte replied that the negotiation was still ongoing. On Thursday last the approved protocol for public masses was presented in a joint briefing by Prime Minister Conte and the CEI President, Cardinal Bassetti.
