Pretoria, 04 February, 2022 / 9:15 pm (ACI Africa).
The Catholic Archbishop of South Africa’s Pretoria Archdiocese has reinstated the obligation to take part in Holy Mass on Sundays, which had been suspended across the country in 2020 amid COVID-19 restrictions.
Catholic Bishops in South Africa suspended the Sunday obligation in March 2020 when places of worship were closed after COVID-19 was first recorded in the nation.
In September 2020, Archbishop Dabula Anthony Mpako announced the reopening of churches in the Archdiocese of Pretoria, but he retained the suspension of the Sunday obligation.
In a Thursday, February 3 statement, Archbishop Mpako announces the application of “the Sunday Obligation, which had been suspended during the period of strict Lockdowns.”
He says that the “significant improvement” of South Africa’s COVID-19 situation presents “the right time to call all Catholics back to church-in-person.”