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Pandemic and war hit tourism in Lalibela, holy Ethiopian site

May 3, 2021694 Views

As they have done for hundreds of years on the Orthodox Easter weekend, priests wrapped in traditional white robes read the Bible by candlelight on Saturday evening in the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela in northern Ethiopia. The ancient ritual has been a tourist draw in recent years. Tens of thousands of visitors from around Ethiopia and abroad usually come to Lalibela, home to a UNESCO World Heritage site of 12th and 13th century monolithic churches, to celebrate and witness the most important holiday in the Orthodox calendar. Ethiopian Orthodox pilgrims attend the Easter Eve celebration at the St. Mary Rock-Hewn church in Lalibela, Ethiopia, May 1, 2021. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri But they were missing this year. Even many local worshippers stayed home, reflecting the impact of th...

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Crowds gather for Holy Fire ceremony at Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

May 1, 2021454 Views

Orthodox Christians flocked to Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Saturday to celebrate the Holy Fire ceremony, gathering in far greater numbers than last year because coronavirus restrictions have eased. This season’s religious holidays in the Holy Land, home to religious sites sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims, have been overshadowed by tragedy, as Israel mourns the death of 45 Jewish worshippers killed in a stampede overnight between Thursday and Friday at a religious festival in the north of the country. Children were among the casualties. Orthodox Christian worshippers attend the Holy Fire ceremony amid eased coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City, May 1, 2021. REUTERS/Ammar Awad “I listened to th...

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One of the world’s largest church won’t allow more than 15 at a time for mass

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

February 23, 2021866 Views

Brussels’ cavernous basilica is one of the largest churches in the world but COVID-19 rules allow only 15 people at a time to attend mass there, the same limit applied to much smaller religious venues in Belgium. Dozens of worshippers of different religions and clergy demonstrated in the centre of the Belgian capital on Sunday calling for a change to the rules. Parishioners, who can only gather in a group of maximum of 15 people at the same time in the building, attend a mass in the Belgium's national Koekelberg basilica, one of the largest churches in the world, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Brussels, Belgium February 21, 2021. REUTERS/Johnny Cotton “Here, more than in any other building in Belgium, this law is an incredible absurdity,” said the Catholic ba...

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Paraguay church to see no holiday pilgrims for first time in century

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

December 8, 2020743 Views

The people of Paraguay will honor their patron saint this year online or in neighborhood parishes, as pandemic rules prevent an annual pilgrimage to a sacred cathedral for the first time in a century. The sprawling white Caacupé Cathedral, surrounded by palm trees, is widely seen as the spiritual capital of the land-locked South American nation. For more than a century it has attracted nearly a million visitors annually around the holidays, culminating on Dec. 8. The Caacupe Cathedral is pictured before the Virgin of Caacupe Day, during the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Caacupe, outside of Asuncion, Paraguay December 7, 2020. REUTERS/Jorge Adorno But this year officials in Paraguay have largely restricted access to Caacupé, 50 kilometers (30 miles) outs...

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No congregations for Old Goa feast next month

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

November 17, 2020704 Views

For the first time in living memory, the Feast of St Francis Xavier held every year in Old Goa which attracts thousands of people, will not be open to the public due to COVID-19 pandemic, a priest said on Tuesday. The feast of St Francis Xavier is celebrated on December 3 every year on the campus of the Basilica of Bom Jesus, where the relics of the 16th century Spanish saint are preserved. Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa. Photo: Falko Berger/Wikimedia Fr Patricio Fernandes, Rector of the Basilica of Bom Jesus, said thousands of people attend the congregational masses every year. "However, due to the COVID-19 outbreak this year, the prayers in the run-up to the (annual feast) festival and also the masses (congregational prayers) traditionally held on the day of the feast woul...