Vatican City, Nov 12, 2020 / 06:30 am
Coronavirus restrictions have forced the Vatican to scale down this Sunday's commemoration of the World Day of the Poor, a Vatican archbishop said Thursday.
Speaking at a press conference Nov. 12, Archbishop Rino Fisichella said that the pope would not be able to host a lunch for poor inhabitants of Rome at the Vatican as he had in previous years.
The president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization also noted that the Vatican would be unable to provide a "field hospital" for the poor in St. Peter's Square as it had in the past.
He said: "As one can imagine, the customary events that have been realized in recent years -- I refer in particular to the field hospital in St. Peter's Square and the lunch with 1,500 poor people together with the Holy Father in the Paul VI Hall -- have been suspended in order to comply with current regulations."