Church leaders in the Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa held a “penitential walk” for the protection against COVID-19 on Friday, August 13.
Bishop Socrates Mesiona led the activity to mark the end of the four-day retreat of members of the clergy in the vicariate, said a report from Veritas 846.
“The purpose of the penitential walk is to ask God for mercy and for him to intervene and put an end to the pandemic,” said the prelate in his reflection during Mass at the end of the activity.
“We humbly appeal to God to help us stop the pandemic so that we can go back to our normal lives,” said Bishop Mesiona.
The prelate said the “penitential walk” and the praying of the Holy Rosary are ways to ask for forgiveness for all the sins that everyone committed.
The activity was not opened to the public to prevent the exposure of people to the danger of getting sick of COVID-19, said Bishop Mesiona.
Several other dioceses have earlier held their own “penitential service” to ask for the Lord’s intercession as cases of COVID-19 continue to surge in the country.
On Sunday, Philippine health officials detected the first case of COVID-19’s Lambda variant in the country, and reminded the public to strictly observe minimum public health standards.
The World Health Organization classifies Lambda as a “variant of interest,” which was first identified in Peru in December, as laboratory studies showed it has mutations that resist vaccine-induced antibodies.
