In A Test Of Faith, Christians Mark Good Friday In Isolation As Coronavirus Rages On

A small group of clerics are to hold a closed-door service in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and rose from the dead. They will then walk the Via Dolorosa, the ancient route where he is believed to have carried the cross before his execution at the hands of the Romans.

In ordinary times, tens of thousands of pilgrims from around the world retrace Jesus' steps in the Holy Week leading up to Easter. But this year, flights are grounded and religious sites in the Holy Land are closed as authorities try to prevent the spread of the virus.

The new virus causes mild to moderate symptoms in most patients, who recover within a few weeks. But it is highly contagious and can be spread by those showing no symptoms. It can cause severe illness and death in some patients, particularly the old and infirm.

In Rome, the torch-lit Way of the Cross procession at the Colosseum is a highlight of Holy Week, drawing large crowds of pilgrims, tourists and locals.

It's been cancelled this year, along with all other public gatherings in Italy, which is battling one of the worst outbreaks.

The virus has killed nearly 18,000 people in Italy and over 88,000 worldwide.

Instead of presiding over the Way of the Cross procession, Pope Francis will lead a Good Friday ceremony in St. Peter's Square without the public.

Ten people — five from the Vatican's health office and five from a prison in Padua, in northern Italy, where infections are particularly widespread — will participate in the procession, which will circle several times around the obelisk in St. Peter's Square.

On display in the square will be a wooden crucifix, famed for being carried in a procession during the plague that ravaged Rome in the early 16th century.

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, nearly destroyed by fire a year ago, is holding a special Good Friday ceremony in the charred, gutted interior of the medieval landmark. But the event is closed to the public for two reasons: France's strict virus confinement measures forbid religious or any other gatherings, and the cathedral remains too structurally unstable to let parishioners inside.

“We wanted to send a message of hope” through the ceremony, Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit told reporters this week.

“The message of hope is especially important for our compatriots at a time when we are particularly affected by the coronavirus, which is sowing anguish and death,” he said.

In the Philippines, Asia's bastion of Catholicism, masses and other solemn gatherings have been put on hold, including folk rituals that feature real-life crucifixions and usually draw thousands of tourists and penitents. The annual procession of the “Black Nazarene,” a centuries-old statue of Jesus, through downtown Manila, has also been canceled.

Churchgoers have been told to stay home and remember Jesus' suffering through family prayers, fasting and by watching masses and religious shows on TV or online.

For Josille Sabsal, it's a test of faith. The 30-year-old Catholic missionary tried to replicate an altar in her Manila home by setting up a laptop, a crucifix and small statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary on a table.

“It's different, because the priest is on a screen," she said. "When the internet lags, the mass suddenly gets cut off and you have to look for another YouTube video.” “I miss that moment in church when you say, 'Peace be with you,' to complete strangers and they smile back," she added.

The Rev. Flavie Villanueva, a former drug addict who ministers in Manila's slums, got special permission to celebrate Mass on Thursday for 73 homeless people in a college basketball court. They wore masks, stayed more than an arm's length apart, and there was no singing.

He's sad to see the churches emptied out, but hopes it will help people to renew their faith.

"We are asked to go back and rediscover where the church in our lives first started, and that's in the family.”?