Below is the bishop’s full order.

For the duration of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and the state of epidemiological threat introduced throughout the country, I order as follows:

  1. Funerals are to be conducted in the following manner, depending on arrangements made with the family:
    1. The funeral Mass is celebrated in the morning in the parish church, only in the presence of the immediate family and without the deceased’s body,
    2. The Holy Mass is celebrated on the day of the funeral without the participation of the faithful,
    3. The Mass for the deceased is celebrated at a later date.
      For the remainder of the rites, only the third form of the funeral is to be used (a station only at the cemetery, without entering the cemetery chapel). Only the deceased’s immediate family should participate in the rites of the final farewell, while still observing the limit of no more than fifty people in the assembly (including those providing liturgical and cemetery services).
  2. In the near future, sacramental ministry is to be limited to the essential minimum (Holy Masses with the restriction on the number of participants observed, along with constant encouragement to participate spiritually through social communication media; individual confession in urgent situations; and the anointing of the sick in life-threatening situations). I leave the administration of the sacrament of baptism and the blessing of marriages to the prudent judgment of the pastors, with all current regulations introduced by the secular and ecclesiastical authorities being observed.
  3. All parish retreats and other planned communal Lenten initiatives are to be canceled.
  4. The communal celebration of all devotions is to be completely suspended: Gorzkie Żale, the Stations of the Cross, Godzinki, the Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and others. I encourage their individual and family observance, and, wherever possible, the online broadcasting of these devotions, provided that they are also celebrated without the physical participation of the faithful.
  5. All residents of the Higher Seminary of the Diocese of Legnica are obliged to remain permanently at their place of residence and not to receive guests from outside. All parish pastoral placements for seminarians are canceled.
  6. The Retirement Home for Priests is subject to similar rules. Its residents are obliged to remain at their place of residence. Any pastoral ministry by retired priests in parishes is suspended until further notice.
  7. During this period, churches in the Diocese of Legnica should not invite priests from outside the parish or allow anyone to provide pastoral ministry who has not been assigned to do so by decree of the diocesan bishop.
  8. All types of private chapels (religious-order, hospital and others) are to remain closed to outsiders.
  9. I recommend taking greater care during this period to maintain cleanliness in churches and chapels through more frequent disinfection, especially of objects and places that are often touched: confessional grilles, pews, kneelers, door handles, light switches and so on.

All information contained in the Order of the Bishop of Legnica of March 13 this year and in the Announcement of the Legnica Bishops’ Curia of March 14 this year, as well as that contained in this Order, shall remain in force from the moment of announcement until revoked.

I emphatically remind everyone that, pursuant to can. 273 and can. 274 § 2 of the Code of Canon Law, all those to whom the aforementioned orders apply should implement them unconditionally, with full awareness of the consequences arising from both ecclesiastical and secular law.