In the context of the current Covid-19 pandemic and the impossibility for many to physically participate in the celebrations and prayer moments of the Church, on Thursday 9 April 2020, a few days before Easter, COMECE launches “SanctuaryStreaming.eu”, an online platform offering live streaming services from Catholic sanctuaries and churches in Europe.
Logo of sanctuarystreaming.eu. (Credit: COMECE)
The platform was built in response to the needs of many faithful who – due to the precautionary measures taken by governments to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic – are prevented from going to churches and sanctuaries, where they used to go to pray and ask for support.
The website, which now counts 28 Sanctuaries from 17 European countries and the Vatican, is the practical realisation of a desire to show the solidarity, communion and unity of the Church, supporting Europeans to grow in a spirit of solidarity and to better face the challenges posed by the current pandemic.
The mission of Sanctuarystreaming.eu is not supposed to end once the Covid-19 epidemic is over. COMECE is open to the possible collaboration of our partners in order to improve the project over time, adding new live streaming services and languages.
The idea of Sanctuarystreaming.eu came in the first weeks of March 2020 during a conversation between H. Em. Card. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ and H. E. Mgr. Alain Paul Lebeaupin, respectively President of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) and the Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union, at a moment when multiple European governments took strict precautionary measures to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.