"CHURCH OPEN» (XI episode) - MAY EXCEED the worthy POLICE IN ZEAL UP TO COME TO DISCONTINUE THE SACRED CELEBRATIONS IN THE CHURCHES?

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We offer our readers this valuable new video of our esteemed brother John Zanchi, priest of the Diocese of Arezzo, so that it can also serve as an effective and wise antidote to all those who unfortunately, at this time of extraordinary crisis and emergency, They have nothing better to do than argue, often in harsh and aggressive tone, against decisions taken by our bishops for safety reasons to protect public health: suspend the sacred celebrations and in many cases close the churches. Recall that the Church, during crises and emergencies, It has never been saved by the controversy of those who stand for all time the most faithful among the faithful or to the purest of the pure, but the unit. Someone has written these days that "the bishops are committing suicide the Italian Church". Unfortunately he did not understand anything of the essence of the Catholic faith: the church “if suicidal” attacking the bishops, instead follow them and support them in a moment of so severe test.

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VIDEO SHOOTING AND ASSEMBLY BY THE ISSUER TELESANDOMENICO (AREZZO)

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TEXT OF THE VIDEO

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The texts of Father John Zanchi, director of the Pastoral Center Divine Worship of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arezzo-Cortona-Sansepolcro, They are not meant as articles but as audio-narrative texts. We proceeded to transcribe audio text for our Readers.

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John Zanchi

Welcome to the eleventh episode of Open Church.

The stone and brick churches are open, well no public celebrations, as a sign of The church that remains opened and working for the glory of God and the sanctification of souls, although in exceptional shapes. We had two wonderful examples last Friday 27 March: thanks to the means of social communication, Catholics around the world have united spiritually to the Holy Father the Pope in a historic supplication to God for the end of the pandemic. In the same day, every single Italian bishop has visited a cemetery in suffrage for the souls of the many victims of the pandemic, buried with funeral in the form very small, because emergency health.

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Now we come to today's. In the previous episode I helped to reflect on some of the underlying prudential reasons for the suspension of public liturgies in the time of a pandemic. In the short time available, I will now mention a complementary aspect of the same issue: in open churches are not held public celebrations, but the faithful have the right to go to church for personal prayer and to receive the sacraments in individual form, especially Confession and Holy Communion; obviously respecting the preventive health rules we all now know well. On the website of the Italian Government [cf WHO] clicking in the section F.A.Q. and clicking on "Ceremonies", It is written as follows: "Question: You can go to church or other houses of worship?" Reply: "They are allowed to open and access to places of worship, as long as you avoid gatherings and make sure the distance between the goers not less than one meter ".

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The Lombardy Region It issued on even more detailed rules; In fact, the Regional Ordinance No.. 514 the 21 March 2020 to the point 22 reads textually: "The access to places of worship is allowed in quota and in observance of the necessary measures to ensure the safety of interpersonal distance of one meter". Therefore you can go to pray individually in any church in the local council area, fitted with the necessary self-certification and avoiding gatherings. No one can prevent it; it would be an abuse of power. An advice: as when going for food shopping is good to keep your sales slip, to show that actually has gone into this shop, so it is appropriate photographing themselves inside the church, as evidence to be shown to the Authority responsible for the control.

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We have to address this topic, because they are increasing reports about faithful censored by the Police (however meritorious) just because they were on their way to church to pray alone. More seriously: in various parts of Italy the Police disrupted Masses that were taking place in full respect of the rules of prophylaxis against the pandemic; remember that the current Italian laws strictly forbid: If a church is doing is an act of worship, Police and Carabinieri can enter to perform their duties only after having previously informed the bishop of the place and in any case can not stop the act of worship.

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To guard against any arbitrariness or forced removal from a sacred place or complaints or fines imposed for such reasons, you can turn to a lawyer, to assert their rights. But it would be better not to have to go that far! By the grace of God, these days many public administrators have officially gone into churches to entrust to divine protection their fellow citizens. Well done! They fulfilled their duty! But it is absurd that the joints of Giulianova Carabinieri, in Abruzzo, They reported to the Public Prosecutor, the Mayor of the City, others 3 administrators, 5 priests and 3 journalists, which, in the large sanctuary of the Madonna of Splendor, They had entrusted their Common to Mary Most Holy, with a lot of deposition of the tricolor sash at the foot of the statue. 12 People spaced well over a meter from one another inside a spacious building, They were considered the most dangerous of the dozens of people present simultaneously in any supermarket!

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Did I mention that our police forces are praiseworthy, especially in this emergency, and they must go to all our gratitude; indeed, in the case of Giulianova they have simply made a duty, following specious arguments raised by third parties, driven by malice towards Christians. The fact remains that some have tried to besmirch an act of devotion as if it were a crime; we also have reports of priests who have received written threats simply because very large churches have celebrated Mass with the assistance of a few people at a safe distance! It seems that some anti-Christian satanised want to use the opportunity of the pandemic to discredit and attack the Catholic faithful. We can not allow these abuses!

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The Italian Church is giving great test of prudence and love for the common good with the painful suspension of celebrations with the people, while ensuring the daily opening of the churches, even agreeing to celebrate in the form emergency next Easter, but it is not acceptable that it is forbidden to the individual exercising the right of worship (cf Constitution of the Italian Republic, item 19), exercised in currently possible forms. Accepting such a thing would be a dangerous precedent for the protection of the freedom of all Italian citizens. There is a danger that, once the emergency has passed, enter a church to pray to become a concession by the State, no longer a human right. Our bishops and the government must immediately take steps to ensure clear rules and strict waves are issued to guarantee the exercise of the constitutional right to freedom of worship even in these calamitous times.

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Finally point out a very important practical aspect: a prudent individual frequency of churches also allows their custody during the opening hours; most of our historic and artistic heritage is made by the churches and their furnishings: leave them open and empty for many hours throughout the day is the best way to ensure the preservation? We remember that, even in normal times, They are frequent theft and vandalism in our churches! Faithful prevented from attending churches individually, reported while they perform acts of devotion with all due attention ... sad Signs, which show the degree of de-Christianization which has plunged our society and the social devaluation of the necessity of the interior life and the value of supernatural reality; but Italy can not become the country where the pandemic in time you can safely go out to buy a pack of cigarettes (and this is said with all due respect to tobacconists), but you can not bear to church to pray, even in solitude!

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The churches of stone and brick even in the time of a pandemic remain open, to remind us that Christians are committed to pray for the good of all, both in their homes and in public places, because - as we are reminded in Psalm 126, 1: "Unless the Lord builds the house, in vain do its builders labor;. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain ".

Thank you for listening. Appointment to the next episode Open Church.

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Sansepolcro (Arezzo), 29 March 2020

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