Dakar, 04 May, 2021 / 8:49 pm (ACI Africa).
The annual national Marian pilgrimage in the West African nation of Senegal that had been scheduled to take place this month has been canceled amid COVID-19 restrictions, the Catholic Bishops in the country have announced.
In their May 1 collective statement, the Bishops call on pilgrims to Poponguine, a small village on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean in Senegal, to pray for Mary’s intercession in their respective Parishes.
“This great gathering of faith scheduled for May 24 cannot hold as usual,” members of the Episcopal Conference of Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau say, citing COVID-19 restrictions.
“It is true that the current evolution of the pandemic gives us great hope,” the Bishops say, and continue, “Let us always remain cautious, so that our common struggle to overcome this evil becomes more effective. We must learn from the negative consequences of the second wave of the pandemic, which was on the decline.”
Instead of the major assembly of pilgrims in Poponguine, the Bishops recommend that “the celebration of the 133rd edition of the Pilgrimage be lived at the level of the Parish communities of our Dioceses, with the celebration of Marian Masses, preceded by the recitation of the Rosary, on Monday, May 24, at 10 a.m., in strict respect of preventive measures.”
