CBCP: Raising hands during mass not forbidden, prescribed

MANILA, Philippines — There is no problem whether or not to raise one’s hands while praying the Lord’s Prayer during mass, according to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

The issue caused a stir among Catholic leaders in the Philippines. Previously, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma asked the CBCP to resolve the matter when the diocese of Dumaguete ordered devotees to avoid raising hands while the archdiocese of San Fernando, Pampanga allowed it.

Only the priest should outstretch his hands during the prayer while people should “join his or her own hands,” according to Dumaguete Bishop Julito Cortes.

Citing the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, CBCP Episcopal Commission on Liturgy chairman and Capiz Archbishop Victor Bendico declared that the document “neither forbids nor prescribes raising hands or holding hands while praying the Lord’s Prayer at mass.”

“We are therefore exhorted to exercise sincere respect to each other in the gesture we express during the prayer,” he wrote in his Circular 2023-03.

Also quoting Pope Francis that “Our Father” is “the prayer of the children of God, a great prayer that Jesus taught us,” Bendico said Catholics can “recite or sing it with a gesture that can best help to experience and express themselves as God’s children.”

The Bible also did not prohibit Catholics from raising their hands, Bendico said, noting that Moses and King Solomon prayed with outstretched hands and the apostle Paul ordered Timothy to “pray, lifting up holy hands.”

In a separate letter, Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula affirmed the CBCP body’s decision and asked the clergy and lay faithful in the Archdiocese of Manila to “respect the decision of the faithful on the gestures they take, whether raised or joined hands or holding each other’s hands.”