While Poland has now lifted many of its COVID-19 curbs, a number of Catholic dioceses scaled down the day’s celebrations compared with the pre-pandemic years. Due to current containment measures main processions in some major cities have been cancelled including in Warsaw and Wrocław.
Poland on Thursday reported 572 new coronavirus infections and 91 more deaths, bringing the country's total number of cases during the pandemic to 2,874,092 and fatalities to 74,075
At 10:00 am local time, a mass was celebrated at John the Baptist's Cathedral in Warsaw, following which a procession of a few thousand people lead through the Old Town to Piłsudski Square.
The Catholic faithful in Poland traditionally attend Mass and then embark on a procession of the Blessed Sacrament carried aloft throughout the procession, while the faithful sing.
In this staunchly Catholic country where nearly 95 percent of citizens identify as religious and nearly half attend church weekly, processions are attended by thousands, as the feast is one of the most important in the Roman Catholic Church.
Corpus Christi is always held on the ninth Thursday after Easter, following Trinity Sunday, and it celebrates the belief that Christ's blood and body are present in the Eucharist.
The feast has been celebrated in Poland since 1320, with the first mention of processions taking place around the 15th century.
During communism in Poland, Corpus Christi processions were banned, however.
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Source: PAP