Pope celebrates Palm Sunday without crowds

Pope Francis celebrated Palm Sunday Mass in an empty St. Peter’s Square Sunday, with the typical tens of thousands of worshippers absent due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The pope, a few aides and invited prelates, nuns and laypeople — all of them practicing recommended social distancing measures — were the only people to attend this year’s mass outside St. Peter’s Basilica, The Associated Press reported.

The pontiff will preside over traditional Holy Week ceremonies this week without the traditional crowds, with the pandemic forcing widespread lockdowns in both Italy and the Vatican. The Vatican has announced seven confirmed cases of the virus.

Some ceremonies will also change locations, with the Good Friday Way of the Cross procession taking place in St. Peter’s Square rather than in a candlelit procession at the Colosseum in Rome, the AP reported.

The ban on Holy Week crowds was announced in mid-March, with the Vatican saying the pope’s general audiences and Sunday blessings would be online and on television through Easter Sunday.  The Netherlands also announced it will not send the tens of thousands of flowers to the altar for Easter that it normally sends.

The Vatican has taken numerous similar precautions throughout the pandemic, and said in a statement in March that the pope himself had tested negative for the virus. Vatican spokesman Matte Bruni said in a statement in late March that the entire papal residence has been sanitized.

Cancellations or alterations to religious services have been more controversial in parts of the U.S., with Pastor Tony Spell of Life Tabernacle Church in Central, La., issued a misdemeanor summons last week for violating Gov. John Bel Edwards’s (D) executive order against large gathering.

“Mr. Spell will have his day in court where he will be held responsible for his reckless and irresponsible decisions that endangered the health of his congregation and our community,” the police department in Central, La. said in a statement.