Egypt’s Pope Tawadros II leads Palm Sunday mass without audience

The head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church Pope Tawadros II led the Palm Sunday mass at Church in Wadi El-Natroun without general audience due to restrictions over the coronavirus outbreak in the country, Ahram Online reported on Sunday.

Transferring the religious event online in a live stream on the church’s official Facebook page and on Christian TV channels, the Palm Sunday mass was held at Saint Pishoy Monastery in Wadi El-Natroun, Behaira.

A small number of churchmen took part in the mass in the early hours of Sunday.

“The closure of the Churches is for a temporary time due to the coronavirus outbreak in the world and in Egypt,” Pope Tawadros II said in his speech during the mass.

Egypt on 21 March ordered churches and mosques to shut their doors to mass rituals and prayers as part of measures to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church had already announced that Pope Tawadros II was to hold the masses of the Holy Week at Saint Pishoy Monastry without general audience.

Egypt has so far recorded 1,939 Coronavirus cases nationwide including 146 fatalities.