Although the organiser of the event, the bishop of Šiauliai, stated that I. Vėgėlė was not specially invited to the Celebration of Families, experts stress that the visits of politicians to church events and political agitation by priests are primarily detrimental to the church itself.
Despite lockdown, Lithuanian churches to reopen for mass
37
Church service / D. Umbrasas/LRT
Catholic churches in Lithuania will hold live services starting next week, the Bishops Conference announced on Tuesday, even though public events are banned under coronavirus lockdown rules.
“Yes, we have made such a decision, since people have been asking and demanding it. I think people need spirituality, they are starving for it,” Eugenijus Bartulis, the archbishop of Šiauliai, told BNS, confirming the reopening of church services.
The country is currently under a coronavirus lockdown, with non-essential services and shops as well as all public events suspended.
The Bishop s Conference, the leadership of Lithuania s Catholic Church, announced in mid-December that churches were also suspending live services in order to avoid the risk of infection. Worshipers were still allowed to visit churches for individual prayer.