Rome Newsroom, Mar 17, 2021 / 13:00 pm
In a homily on St. Patrick’s Day, Dublin’s new archbishop called on authorities to prioritize the right to worship as COVID-19 measures are eased next month.
“As a matter of human dignity and fairness — but even more so as matter of wellbeing and the restoration of normality, I call on the public authorities to give assurance that the legitimate desire of people to gather responsibly and within reasonable guidelines to exercise their constitutional right to worship will be prioritised in the easing of restrictions,” Archbishop Dermot Farrell said March 17.
Ireland is under strict “Level 5” COVID-19 restrictions until April 5, 2021. Under government health measures, public worship has been suspended in the country since Oct. 7, 2020. Public religious services were also suspended in Ireland from March to June 2020.
In his homily for St. Patrick’s Day, Farrell noted that the past year “has been a tumultuous one for people of faith with all churches closed over many months for public worship.”