HONG KONG (UCAN): The state-sanctioned Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association issued a joint notice to all institutions and dioceses in the country on January 8, asking them to take precautions as people began to travel for the Lunar New Year festival, which falls on February 12 this year.
During the festival season, some three million people travel across the country to be with their families in what the media calls the largest annual human migration. However, the travel crush is expected to be less this year after authorities issued Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) restrictions and urged people to avoid travel as the virus continues to trouble the country.
The notice noted that the pandemic had recently spread to several places in Hebei province and that some people had spread rumours on social media linking the Catholic Church with the spread of the infection, thought the Patriotic Association and the Diocese of Shijiazhuang (Sunday Examiner, January 17), dismissed the rumours.
As travel has increased in the spring festival season, Church activities have been relatively concentrated and the pressure on epidemic prevention and control has increased.
“It is necessary to minimise the movement and gathering of people, strictly control the number of religious activities such as the New Year’s Thanksgiving Mass, and formulate various emergency plans to ensure safety and order,” the notice said.
It called on priests and Church members to guide everyone “to exert the patriotic spirit of the Catholic community to actively fight the epidemic” and abide by various prevention and control measures.
The notice also asked priests and Church members to pray for the early elimination of the pandemic.
Several provinces and major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, have issued notices asking people to avoid unnecessary travel during the Lunar New Year travel season until the first week March. In southern China, a similar notice was issued by the official Church of Guangdong province on January 10, urging dioceses and parishes to take strict prevention measures for religious meetings and activities.
