The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gyulafehérvár has published the participation figures for the Csíksomlyó farewell to be held on Saturday next week, broken down into dioceses and archdeaconry districts.

of Archbishop Gergely Kovács was presented by the Romkat.ro portal. According to the circular, 22,110 pilgrims coming from afar can participate in the farewell. All must wear a badge, which can be obtained through parishes. An additional 15,000 badges will be made for the people of Csikszereda, but they will be allowed into the Csiksomlyo mountain saddle without a badge if they show their identity card confirming their address.

As the archbishop announced: it will not be possible to go on a bus pilgrimage this year, and the rules for wearing a face mask and keeping a distance must be observed. He suggested that, if possible, the pilgrim groups of the parishes (the crosses) should be made up of people who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. The archbishop also asked that groups of pilgrims not enter the church.

The largest staff numbers are listed next to the archdeacon offices of Székelyföld. According to the list, 5,400 believers from Alcsík, 6,600 from Felcsík, 2,000 from the Székelyudvarhely area, 1,500 from Györgyo, and 1,500 from Kézdi and Orbaiszék can participate in the pilgrimage. The Archdiocese of Cluj-Napoca received 210 seats, the dioceses of Temesvár, Nagyvárad and Szatmár with five hundred representatives each, and the Csangós of Moldavia with 450 can be present at the farewell high mass on Pentecost Sunday.

The circular does not address how pilgrims from other countries or those belonging to other religious denominations can participate in the farewell.

At the same time, Archbishop Gergely Kovács announced that the joint methodology of the Ministry of Health and the State Secretariat for Religion, which regulates participation in religious pilgrimages, is in progress. The participation in the farewell party in Csíksomlyó will take place in accordance with this.

The organizers of the pilgrimage clarified several details at their press conference in Csíksomlyo on Friday afternoon.

Erik Urbán, the head of the Transylvanian Franciscan order province, said: for those belonging to other denominations who wish to celebrate together with the Roman Catholic faithful, it is recommended that they contact the parishes operating in their settlement or nearby.

Attila Korodi, the mayor of Csíkszereda, added: there is no ban on the arrival of pilgrims from Hungary and other countries, but it is recommended that they experience the Pentecost farewell experience at home through television and the Internet. If you would like to set off, find the delegation of your sister settlement. The mayor added: everyone is recommended to purchase a badge, but those who do not have a badge can also participate in the pilgrimage. However, he stressed that the bus pilgrimage will not be allowed and that this will be checked by the authorities.

Attila Korodi also reported that the Ministry of Health and the State Secretariat for Religion have drawn up the decree regulating pilgrimages. According to the latter, wearing a mask will be mandatory for the entire duration of the farewell, and only those living in the same household can be near each other, families must keep a distance of one and a half meters from each other.

The mayor also said that on the day of the farewell, only the existing shops and catering establishments in the city will be open, and the unloading fair has been banned on Szék Street leading to Csíksomlyo. With this, they want to ensure that there is no congestion on the roads leading to and from the site. For a similar reason, the farewell mass is followed by the performance of the Csíksomlyó Passion in the mountain saddle.

Csaba Borboly , the president of the Hargita county municipality, said that separate sectors will be created in the mountain saddle for pilgrims from each area, and volunteers will direct the arrivals to the right place. The politician added: there will be a horse pilgrimage this year as well. Pilgrims on horseback bring prayer ribbons from distant countries to the mountain saddle.

Erik Urbán announced: this year, for the first time, a phone application is available to pilgrims. The Csíksomlyó application, which can be downloaded from online stores, provides orientation and background information.

The High Mass on Pentecost Sunday begins at 12:30 in Romania (11:30 in Central Europe) on May 22. The farewell will be broadcast live on Duna television.

In Csíksereda and Hargita counties, the infection rate remains low. The number of new infections registered in the city in the last two weeks per thousand inhabitants was 0.52 on Friday, and 0.81 in the county. In the last 24 hours, 15 new coronavirus infections were recorded in Hargita county.

MTI

Photo: Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI