ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) – Catholics are outraged by the diocese of Rome’s decision to shut down churches “not because the state requires it, but out of a sense of belonging to the human family, exposed to a virus whose nature and propagation we do not yet know,” as the decree published Thursday afternoon states.

The prohibition, promulgated by Cardinal Vicar of Rome Angelo De Donatis at the headquarters of the Vicariate in the Lateran Apostolic Palace, orders that “access to the parochial and non-parochial churches of the diocese of Rome” as well as “religious buildings of any kind” — both normally open to the public by canon law — is “forbidden to all the faithful” until April 3.

“The faithful are consequently exempted from the obligation to fulfill the Sunday obligation (cf. cann. 1246–1248 CIC),” the decree adds.

“It will be the responsibility of the priests responsible for the exercise of worship in individual places (parish priests, rectors, chaplains, etc.) to take action to follow up on this provision, first of all with the closure of the classrooms and with any other initiative suitable for the purpose,” the decree notes.

Church Militant’s Rome correspondent visited a number of parish churches in Rome and in the suburbs on Tuesday and found few individuals praying before the Blessed Sacrament. Some churches were even open for 24-hour adoration with a rota to keep vigil round the clock.

A number of Italian priests who are being viewed as “rebel priests” are defying earlier orders to restrict Masses and administering of the sacraments.

Sources told Church Militant that the decree may have been directed at these “rebel priests” offering ostensibly private Masses but deliberately looking the other way if strangers wander in and join in to receive Holy Communion.

Our sources named a number of churches and even named priests who were bold enough to defy the earlier decree suspending public Masses, but did so on strict conditions of anonymity, informing us that the priests could face a double penalty from the state and a canonical penalty from the bishop.

Some priests also offered “open air” Masses to get around the rules forbidding the faithful from congregation inside the church buildings.

Fr. Franz Xaver Brandmayr openly announced that he will not exclude the faithful and will pray aloud, preach and administer Holy Communion at the “private Masses” he celebrates.

Brandmayr, rector of Santa Maria dell’Anima, the German-speaking congregation in Rome, said: “I will celebrate it as a private Mass, but nobody can prevent me from doing it with a loud voice. I always give a sermon. Those who want to pray are always welcome in this church. And if someone comes and wants to receive Communion, I won’t refuse it.”

“For me, obedience stops there. I do not deny Communion to anyone. If you want to lock the church, you have to use physical force to get me to do it,” he said, adding: “You have to take certain precautions, but you can’t control everything. It is a mania of mankind to believe that you can control everything.”

Outside Rome, cases of priests celebrating “clandestine Masses” have come to light as Church Militant reported the case of Fr. Antonio Lunghi, parish priest of Castello d’Agogna in Pavia Diocese, who was reported to the police for not locking the church doors and permitting eight worshippers to join him for Mass.

Fr. Alberto Antonioli, parish priest of Trevenzuolo in Verona diocese, was forced to apologize on television after being arrested for celebrating Sunday Mass with the door half-closed and a few dozen faithful entering. The priest was charged with disregarding a provision of the judicial authority under article 650 of the penal code and fined by the police.

In Bedizzole, Brescia diocese, the mayor forcibly entered the church to make sure that no parishioners were participating in the Mass celebrated by parish priest Fr. Franco Degani. Once he made sure no one was there, he asked two municipal agents to check that no more people were entering. After the Mass, they checked the interior of the building and left.

After Mass, police officers entered to see whether anybody was inside. The priest said to the officers, “At the bar across the street, last night, they were partying until 3 a.m., but you didn’t go to check on them, did you?”

Canon lawyer Fabio Adernò sarcastically asked:

In this climate of profound police fear that we are experiencing, perhaps we will also want to prevent priests from bringing the Holy Host to the sick or divine comfort to the dying in the name of a provision of public health, by applying draconian perhaps of art. 27 of the Consolidated Law on public safety laws, while bars and restaurants remain open and accessible, albeit with the known restrictions?

Adernò, a distinguished advocate of the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota lamented:

Terror has taken over, as in the darkest periods of Christianity, and sadly we find that the Church has stopped its role of “sign of contradiction” and has aligned itself, helplessly, to confusion, even failing to assure spirits that the bloodless eucharistic Sacrifices will rise equally, despite every contingency, on the altars of every corner of Italy to implore God for the end of this infection, thus giving sad and disheartening demonstration of a growing rampant apostasy … .

“I rubbed my eyes and read the decree again and again. It still doesn’t make sense. Does it mean that Catholics should be like everybody else with no protection from above? I thought it was the other way around that we should go to church and bring before God the whole of mankind in supplication for deliverance from this pandemic,” Elisabetta Sala, lecturer in English literature and Milanese Catholic told Church Militant.

“The day of the closure of the churches is particularly poignant. This is the day which used to be celebrated as the feast of Pope St. Gregory the Great in the Western Church. It still is [celebrated] in the Eastern Church. Pope Gregory called Italians to repent, fast and pray and God saved us from a plague far more pestilential than the coronavirus,” the Shakespearean expert said.

The decree closing the churches concludes with some irony: “Recall that this provision is for the common good. We welcome the words of Jesus who tells us “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in their midst” (Matthew 18.20). At this time, even more, our houses are domestic churches.”

Read the source: https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/rome-orders-churches-to-shut-even-though-state-does-not-require-it