Saudi Arabia announced that pilgrims who perform Umrah without a permit during the month of Ramadan will be fined as officials are trying to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

An official source at the Ministry of Interior said a fine of SR10,000 ($2,666) would be imposed on anyone who tries to perform Umrah without a permit, along with a SR1,000 fine for anyone who tries to enter the Grand Mosque in Makkah without a permit.

Saudi authorities are looking beyond Ramadan as the measure will be valid until the end of the pandemic or when “life returns to normal,” the source added.

The source said the ministry wants to ensure that all precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus are adhered to.

It also wants to ensure that approved regulations for performing Umrah and prayer are in line with the operational safety capacity at all Grand Mosque sites and squares.

Every pilgrim wishing to perform Umrah or prayers in the Grand Mosque must obtain a permit.

The source also said that security personnel will be on patrol at all security control centers, roads, sites and pathways leading to the central area surrounding the Grand Mosque.

Meanwhile, Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud bin Naif, minister of interior, who is also chairman of the Hajj Supreme Committee, approved the general emergency plan for Makkah and Madinah during Ramadan.

The director general of the General Directorate of Civil Defense, Lt. Gen. Sulaiman bin Abdullah Al-Amro, said COVID-19 inspection tours have been intensified at all facilities and sites frequented by pilgrims and visitors.

The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said on Thursday that the Umrah and Tawakkalna applications have been launched in their updated versions, through cooperation with the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence.

It is Easter Monday- this day holds religious significance for Christians, as it follows Easter Sunday, the day Jesus Christ was resurrected following his crucifixion on Good Friday.

It is believed that Jesus remained on earth for 40 days after his resurrection, and during this time he appeared to believers, healed the sick and spread the word of God.

The acts he carried out during this period are thought to have helped establish the first church. After the 40 days ended, Christians believe that he ascended into heaven.

The Bible itself does not say anything about what happened on Easter Monday, after Jesus’ resurrection, and it also doesn’t specifically instruct Christians to celebrate the Monday following Easter Sunday.

Pope Gives Easter Message

Pope Francis said at the start of his Easter message that “Jesus, who was crucified, has risen as He said. Alleluia!”

Due to measures against the Covid-19 Pandemic, Pope Francis delivered his Urbi et Orbi message inside St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Basilica featured arrays of Avalanche roses given by Dutch florists who traditionally filled St. Peter’s Square with flowers on Easter every year, but had to stop temporarily due to the pandemic.

The Easter reality of the Resurrection offers concrete, tangible hope and consolation, the Pope noted, but its message does not offer us “a mirage or reveal a magic formula” we might wish as an escape exit to the world’s difficult realities.

Among them, the spread of the pandemic, social and economic crisis hitting the poor especially, but also, he noted the “scandalous” fact that “armed conflicts have not ended and military arsenals are being strengthened.”

The Easter message of hope tells us concisely that “the crucified Jesus, none other, has risen from the dead”, Pope Francis said, adding that God the Father raised Jesus, who accomplished His saving will by taking upon Himself our weakness, infirmities, the weight of our sins, even our death.

Because of this, the Pope said, “God the Father exalted Him and now Jesus Christ lives forever; He is the Lord.”

The wounds Jesus bears in His hands, feet and side are “the everlasting seal of His love for us”, the Pope noted, and all who experience trials in body or spirit can find refuge in them and “receive the grace of the hope that does not disappoint.”

Pope Francis went on to say that the Risen Christ gives hope and comfort for those suffering from the pandemic, the sick and those who have lost a loved one.

He also prayed that the Lord might “sustain the valiant efforts of doctors and nurses”. He stressed that everyone, especially the vulnerable, needs assistance and has a right to care, and vaccines are essential.

He appealed to the international community “to commit to overcoming delays in the distribution of vaccines and to facilitate their distribution, especially in the poorest countries.”

The Risen Lord is comfort for the unemployed and those suffering economic difficulties, the Pope said. He prayed that Christ might “inspire public authorities to act so that everyone, especially families in greatest need” can be provided with help in order to avoid sliding into poverty, a sad reality the pandemic has dramatically worsened.

The Pope referred also to the psychological weight of the pandemic on young people, who are often forced to stay at home without attending school or visiting friends in person.

He expressed his “closeness to young people throughout the world”.

Vatican

Pope Francis has underlined that the preaching of the Gospel “is always linked to the embrace of some particular cross.” 

The Pontiff observed while celebrating Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday in St. Peter’s Basilica.

He explained that the Gospel shows us the extent to which “persecution and the cross are linked to the proclamation of the Gospel.”

Dwelling on the “hours” leading to Christ’s Passion and Death, Pope Francis said “the hour of joyful proclamation, the hour of persecution and the hour of the Cross go together.”

 “The gentle light of God’s word shines brightly in well-disposed hearts,” the Pope said, “but awakens confusion and rejection in those that are not. We see this over and over again in the Gospels.”

Giving some examples, Pope Francis spoke of the good seed sown in the field that bears fruit, but it also arouses the envy of the enemy.

“The tender love of the merciful father irresistibly draws the prodigal son home, but also leads to anger and resentment on the part of the elder son,” he noted.

“All this enables us to see that the preaching of the Good News is mysteriously linked to persecution and the cross,” said Pope Francis.

Cross is non-negotiable

Focusing on two trains of  thought, the Pope said that first “we are taken aback to see the cross present in the Lord’s life at the very beginning of his ministry, even before His birth.”

“All this makes us realize that the mystery of the cross is present ‘from the beginning’.”   “The cross does not appear by chance,” he said.

When his hour came, explained Pope Francis, Jesus embraced the cross fully.  “For on the cross there can be no ambiguity. The cross is non-negotiable.”

Dwelling on his second point, the Pope said, “There is an aspect of the cross that is an integral part of our human condition, our limits and our frailty. Yet it is also true that something happens on the Cross that does not have to do with our human weakness but is the bite of the serpent, who, seeing the crucified Lord defenceless, bites Him in an attempt to poison and undo all His work…  It is the venom of the evil one who keeps insisting: save yourself.”

It is in this harsh and painful “bite” that seeks to bring death, that God’s triumph is ultimately seen, said Pope Francis. 

The Pope went on to say that “thanks to the reconciling blood of Jesus, it is a cross that contains the power of Christ’s victory, which conquers evil and delivers us from the evil one.” 

Sufferings of Christ in us

Pope Francis underlined that we as Christians are “not among those who shrink back.”

“We are not scandalized, because Jesus Himself was not scandalized by seeing that His joyful preaching of salvation to the poor was not received wholeheartedly, but amid the shouts and threats of those who refused to hear His word.”

“The way we embrace the cross in our preaching of the Gospel makes two things clear,” the Pope said:  “That the sufferings that come from the Gospel are not ours, but rather ‘the sufferings of Christ in us’ and that ‘we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as servants of all for the love of Jesus’”.

God’s divine grace

Concluding his homily with a story from his past, Pope Francis recalled how, during a dark moment in his life, he asked the Lord for the grace to free him from a difficult and complex situation. 

During Confession he asked an elderly Sister, whose eyes were “full of light”  to pray for him as her penance because he needed a particular grace.

She replied by saying ‘The Lord will certainly give you that grace, but make no mistake about it: He will give it to you in His own divine way’. 

The Pope said that this advice did him much good, “hearing that the Lord always gives us what we ask for, but that He does so in his divine way. That way involves the cross. Not for masochism.  But for love, love to the very end.”