The Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos has announced the suspension of public Mass in the Archdiocese in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
In a special circular addressed to all priests and religious workers in the Archdiocese by the Archbishop of Lagos, Alfred Adewale Martins, on Saturday, March 21st, “Mass with the faithful in attendance is to be suspended for the next four weeks.”
The decision comes amid a spate of measures being taken by authorities and institutions both domestically and internationally to curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease, which has killed over 13,000 victims worldwide, with Nigerian confirming 25 cases of the virus as of Sunday, March 22nd.
The Archbishop of Lagos in his letter to priests said that “we are fighting a war, a war with an invisible deadly enemy with weapons that are very dangerous to human life.”
States across the country are suspending public gatherings and closing schools, in addition to instituting stay at home orders, part of broader lockdown quarantine measures being adopted worldwide to slow the spread of the disease.
On March 7th, Pope Francis had announced that he “would not be appearing from the window of his study to recite his Sunday Angelus with pilgrims in St Peter’s Square”, Rome, according to Vatican News.
Soon after, churches across Italy followed suit, cancelling all public Masses as a precaution against the spread of the virus, which is easily transmitted through human contact.
Churches according the world, including Nigeria, are heeding the warning of health authorities and in some cases government directives to suspend all large scale public gatherings.
