Coronavirus Covid-19: card. Nichols (primate of the Catholic Church in England and Wales), “making room for God in our hearts”. Churches open, but no liturgies

(London) “A very strange Sunday, this Mothering Sunday (the day the United Kingdom celebrates mothers, and in the past families used to go to Mass in the Cathedral). I am here, alone, in a deserted cathedral where the devotees are praying two meters from each other. There’s a lot of silence and a lot of peace”. These are the first words of the message that cardinal Vincent Nichols, primate of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, recorded for his devotees on the first day the British citizens have been asked to keep at a safe distance from each other to avoid the infection, the day before the first week the schools will be shut down. Cardinal Nichols calls the priests “to do nothing that could give the impression we are inviting people to gather in the churches, even if the churches will stay open for praying”. He also calls the devotees not to use this time, “which feels a bit like a desert, even if we know it is going to end, to watch TV all day”. “It’s important to give a routine to our day-to-day life, with a schedule, with a few things to do at some specific times of the day”, the leader of the nearly five million Catholics who live in England and Wales goes on. “One of such times should be a moment of deep silence together. It’s important to have such space, so that God can find our hearts opens and so that He can give us His peace and His compassion”.
Valentina Bombelli