- Churches across the US modified their Easter Sunday services to follow social distancing guidelines.
- From livestreamed masses to parking spaces replacing pews for drive-in services, priests and worshipers were pictured in bizarre scenes of celebrants making do amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.
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This year’s Easter Sunday was markedly different for Christian Americans and their churches, which celebrated services in accordance with lockdown and isolation measures.
Pope Francis notably celebrated Easter in an empty St. Peter’s Basilica amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, which he addressed in his service by offering prayers for those affected, including medical personnel, the sick, the dead and family members mourning their losses from the virus.
“Our world is already faced with epochal challenges,” the pontiff said. “Now it is oppressed by a pandemic that is severely testing our whole human family.”
The mass was a polar opposite from last year’s holiday, which saw approximately 75,000 people packed in St. Peter’s Square in Rome and the empty service set the tone for the bizarre sights from congregations across the US.
Churches in cities and states across the US shut their doors to worshipers over the weekend to maintain social distancing guidelines.
Priests proceeded with Easter services with dramatic modifications that were unrecognizable to the usually crowded annual masses.
Though the congregations might have been absent from the pews, many churches used livestreams to celebrate the mass for a remote audience.
Worship spaces that were packed last year were left empty except for church leadership as celebrants were told to stay home.
Iconic worship sites like San Francisco's Mount Davidson cross still attracted worshipers even after services were canceled for the first time since the tradition began in 1923.
Source: CBS San Francisco