The priest in Rome offers Easter mass on the roof of the church in the middle of the Coronavirus quarantine

Father Purgatorio claims to have held live masses and daily spiritual speeches throughout the quarantine, but had the idea of ​​offering mass from the church terrace for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday.
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A pastor in a church in Rome offered Easter Mass from the roof of the church so that nearby parishioners could attend from their balconies and windows during the coronavirus blockade in Italy.

Making Mass visible in this way "is really saying to people, 'you are not alone'", p. Carlo Purgatorio told CNA.

The pastor of the parish of Santa Emerenziana in the Trieste district of Rome, Father Purgatorio, said that the roof of the church overlooks a busy street where there are many condominiums.

Dozens attended Mass from their balconies and others joined via livestream on April 12th.

"People participated a lot, from their windows, from their terraces," said the priest. He later received many messages from appreciated parishioners: "People were grateful for this initiative, because they didn't feel so alone."

Father Purgatory explained that he had held live masses and daily spiritual speeches throughout the blocking period, but had the idea of ​​offering mass from the terrace of the church for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday.

These significant Sundays "seemed to me, at the moment in which we live, an important occasion - when people cannot come to church - to still be able to live a celebration of the community [although] in this different form".

He said he did not rule out the possibility of offering a Mass on the roof again for another future Sunday. The Italian government extended its blockade until at least Sunday 3 May.

During the quarantine, the house, said Father Purgatorio, became the meeting place, the place of prayer and, for many, the workplace, "but it also becomes for many people the place for the celebration of the Eucharist".

The priest said that the reality of the celebration of Easter without the People of God really affected him, but his parish, which is located in a middle class neighborhood, did everything possible to help people in need during the crisis.

"This Easter, so unique, surely helps us to transform ourselves as people," he said, noting that although people cannot come together to receive the sacraments, they can think of how "to be Christians in a new way".

The parish of Santa Emerenziana has created a dedicated telephone line for people to call to request the delivery of food or medicine and many people have donated non-perishable food for those who need it.

"In the last few days, so many people, most of them immigrants, have come to ask for help to do their shopping," said Father Purgatorio, noting that many have lost their jobs and are consequently struggling financially.

The pastor said that practical assistance and Masses on the roof are a small way to respond to what Pope Francis invited the Catholics of the diocese of Rome to do on the eve of Pentecost in 2019: listen to the cry of the city.

"I think that at this moment, in this pandemic, the" cry "to listen is the need of people," he said, including "the need for faith, for the proclamation of the Gospel, to arrive in their homes".

Fr. Purgatorio also said that it is important that a priest is not a "showman", but he remembers that he is always "a witness of the faith in a humble way, in order to proclaim the Gospel".

So when we celebrate Mass, "we always celebrate the Lord and never ourselves," he said.