Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte appealed to the Catholic Church this week to cancel its yearly Black Nazarene procession in the capital and other related activities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“If the Roman Catholic Church is listening, I am now appealing to you to forgo and cancel all physical gatherings, including the procession and the celebration of Mass in church, because there are many millions of devotees there and you cannot just be complacent about the transmission of the disease,” Duterte said in a taped message Tuesday.
The annual “Traslacion” procession, which starts before sunrise and often lasts for 24 hours, conveys a replica of a 400-year-old ebony statue of Jesus Christ to Quiapo Church while devotees wave white handkerchiefs and shout “viva!”
On Wednesday, acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles said the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) has approved the suspension of the traditional Traslacion procession and other related activities for the Feast of the Black Nazarene.
The decision also includes the closure of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, popularly known as Quiapo Church in Manila from January 7 to January 9, with a ban on holding Masses. “All Holy Masses will be aired online nationwide,” the ruling added.
“I hope the Catholic Church would understand me, that all gatherings are not allowed. Never mind about power government, this is just an appeal to the hierarchy of the church, to look at it on a broader understanding, that it would really be a super spreader,” Duterte said.
“I believe in God, too, there’s no problem with that,” he said. “But I have to do things which I hate to do. I need to do them because it’s my job.”
The Philippines, with a population of around 100 million people, is a stronghold of Roman Catholicism in Asia, with some 80 percent of citizens professing the faith.
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