THE Catholic Church has announced strong guidelines with regard to the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19), which has now also spread to South Africa.
Vincent Zungu, Bishop of the Port Eli-zabeth Catholic Diocese, wrote a letter to all parishes in his diocese outlining guidelines and preventative recommendations to curb the spread of the virus.
There is currently no vaccine for the deadly virus.
“The guidelines are in line with other dioceses in South Africa as well as internationally,” said Zungu.
“It is recommended that these guidelines should be put in place with immediate effect.”
Zungu made the following recommendations which should be applied to church ceremonies:
. That all holy water fonts be removed from the church as they contain bacteria and fungi.
. That the practice of holding hands during prayer and the shaking of hands or hugging when exchanging the sign of peace be stopped.
. Communion to be received on the hand only and not distributed on the tongue, thus avoiding contact with saliva.
. The practice of distributing the chalice be stopped.
. Hand sanitizers to be made available to the clergy and all those assisting with the distribution of Holy Communion.
. Parishioners to at all times cough or sneeze into a tissue.
Zungu instructed all parishes in his diocese to print above precautions on posters and display them in their churches where they can be visible to everyone.
“The church wishes not to create panic around the matter in our communities, but rather to offer preventative mea-sures. “We urge parishioners to pray for all those around the world infected with the Coronavirus,” said Zungu.
