Lithuanian church backtracks on plans to resume mass after outcry
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Vilnius Archbishop Gintaras Grušas / D. Umbrasas/LRT
Lithuanian Catholic Church leaders have reversed their decision to reopen churches for public worship, Vilnius Archbishop Gintaras Grušas said on Wednesday. The earlier announcement caused public outcry in the midst of a nationwide lockdown.
“In light of the current situation, today we decided not to resume public church services with the participation of worshippers,” he told a remote news conference.
Grušas said churches would remain open for private prayer and services.
The Lithuanian Bishops Conference said on Tuesday that public church services would resume on January 11, with limits on attendance.
Lithuanian church backtracks on plans to resume mass after outcry
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Vilnius Archbishop Gintaras Grušas / D. Umbrasas/LRT
Lithuanian Catholic Church leaders have reversed their decision to reopen churches for public worship, Vilnius Archbishop Gintaras Grušas said on Wednesday. The earlier announcement caused public outcry in the midst of a nationwide lockdown.
“In light of the current situation, today we decided not to resume public church services with the participation of worshippers,” he told a remote news conference.
Grušas said churches would remain open for private prayer and services.
The Lithuanian Bishops Conference said on Tuesday that public church services would resume on January 11, with limits on attendance.
Despite lockdown, Lithuanian churches to reopen for mass
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Church service / D. Umbrasas/LRT
Catholic churches in Lithuania will hold live services starting next week, the Bishops Conference announced on Tuesday, even though public events are banned under coronavirus lockdown rules.
“Yes, we have made such a decision, since people have been asking and demanding it. I think people need spirituality, they are starving for it,” Eugenijus Bartulis, the archbishop of Šiauliai, told BNS, confirming the reopening of church services.
The country is currently under a coronavirus lockdown, with non-essential services and shops as well as all public events suspended.
The Bishop s Conference, the leadership of Lithuania s Catholic Church, announced in mid-December that churches were also suspending live services in order to avoid the risk of infection. Worshipers were still allowed to visit churches for individual prayer.
Vilnius District refuses to revoke honorary citizenship of Polish cardinal sanctioned for child abuse
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Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz / Youtube
The recently deceased Archbishop of Wroclaw, Henryk Gulbinowicz, will remain an honorary citizen of Vilnius District, despite being sanctioned for abusing minors and covering up sexual crimes of other priests.
The authorities of the municipality – which covers the area around the Lithuanian capital, but not the city itself – claim there is not enough information and documents to revoke Gulbinowicz s title.
In November this year, the apostolic nunciature in Poland sanctioned Gulbinowicz, who was born and educated in Lithuania, for covering up a priest convicted for sexual offences against minors. Sanctions followed the Holy See’s investigation into the cardinal’s misdemeanour.