LIVE: New Easter Measures announced at the MAI by Marcel Vela

Following the request of President Klaus Iohannis to renounce the agreement announced in the evening between the MAI and the Romanian Orthodox Church, the minister who leads the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Marcel Vela, came today with a series of new rules for all Romanian citizens.

We are talking about a new agreement that was made between MAI and BOR in order to create more safety for all citizens of Romania, the relaxation of the conditions of the emergency ordinances, announced yesterday by Marcel Vela, being completely cancelled.

The provisions of the new agreement are:

1. The services performed on the night of the Resurrection will be performed by the priest respecting the military ordinances and the BOR guidelines;
2. The services will be performed without parishioners present in the churches, or near them;
3. The consecrated bread will be distributed to the faithful at home by church staff or volunteers on Fridays and Saturdays between 08:00 and 17:00, but also on the first day of Easter, upon request. The possibility of believers to go to church to take it alone is canceled;
4. The Holy Light will be distributed starting at 20:00 by a maximum of 5 volunteers for each church, equipped with surgical gloves and masks;
5. The policemen will no longer be obliged to take the Holy Light to the believers in blocks/houses, or hospitals, with the exception of hospitals and social centers that do not have a priest;
6. In the blocks, the owners' associations will establish a person who can take over the Holy Light at the entrance to the block from the priests/volunteers, but only equipped with gloves and a mask;