Holy Week crucifixions in Pampanga halted

MANILA, Philippines — No crucifixions, no flagellants.

Holy Week this year in Pampanga will not have the usual reenactments of the crucifixion and hooded flagellants to help prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin, in a letter to Barangay Lourdes Northwest where the annual crucifixions are held, said the local government has decided to cancel “all public events for this year’s Lenten season, including the Siete Palabras on Good Friday.”

The same prohibition was issued to Barangay San Pedro Cutud where a makeshift Golgotha attracts thousands who want to witness true-to-life crucifixions on Good Friday.

Ruben Enaje, who has had himself nailed on wooden crosses for the past 25 years, told The STAR that he would also abstain from the practice this year.

“I suppose flagellants would also not engage in their bloody practices because open wound just makes them more vulnerable to COVID-19,” said the 59-year-old Enaje, who vowed to do it for 27 years as a form of thanksgiving for divine favors that saved his life, as well as the lives of his wife and a son.

As an alternative, he plans to just carry a heavy cross from his home in San Pedro Cutud to the Golgotha area. He also hopes to complete his vow if conditions permit in the next two years.

In San Fernando City, tourism chief Ching Pangilinan said Mayor Edwin Santiago is expected to also issue a ban on crowd-luring Holy Week observances.

Meanwhile, Bataan Bishop Ruperto Santos says the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) could only recommend to the bishops whether masses should be cancelled as a result of COVID-19.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged “social distancing” and avoidance of crowds as a measure against the spread of the virus.

In Rome, the Pontificio Collegio Filippino also decided to postpone the Lenten recollection with Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, originally set for March 15 to help prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

Fr. Greg Gaston, Pontificio Collegio Filippino rector, explained that the decision to indefinitely postpone the event was made in deference to the Italian government that has urged the cancellation of mass gatherings to help stem the spread of the virus.

“Please accept our sincerest regrets for any inconvenience this might have caused and our gratitude for your interest in the recollection and your prayers,” Fr. Gaston said over CBCPNews, the official news service provider of the CBCP.

Italy is one of the countries most badly affected by COVID-19 and where the death toll has reportedly reached 366. At least 16 million people have been quarantined. The country also has the most fatalities outside China, where the virus emerged in December, as the global death toll surged past 3,500.

“We are also monitoring instructions from the different dioceses in Italy, especially where we celebrate masses for our dear Filipino migrants,” Gaston said.

The Vatican on Friday confirmed its first coronavirus case and temporarily closed some offices as a precaution. 

Pope Francis, who continues to recover from a common cold, earlier expressed closeness to those affected by the disease and to those working to care for the sick and to contain the spread of the virus. – With Evelyn Macairan