The Solitary Rite

The Archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, presides over the solemn Easter liturgies inside the Cattedrale di San Pietro in the total absence of the faithful, in strict compliance with the regulatory provisions and bans on public gatherings mandated by the decree of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers to contain the Covid-19 epidemiological emergency.

Easter, which for the Catholic Church represents the theological and liturgical fulcrum of the entire year, experiences a radical redefinition of its spaces and modes of public participation: access to places of worship is barred, prompting the diocese to systematically adopt streaming technologies to mediate spiritual contact with the community isolated in their homes.

Cardinal Zuppi—appointed archbishop of the city in 2015 and elevated to the cardinalate by Pope Francis in the consistory of 2019, making him one of the youngest members of the College of Cardinals and an elector in future conclaves—responds to the institutional crisis by introducing extraordinary protocols.

These include ordering rites to be held behind closed doors, the daily afternoon festive ringing of all bell towers across the diocese, and a solitary ascent at the end of the novena towards the Basilica della Madonna di San Luca, undertaken with a minimal delegation of aides along the six kilometres of the monumental portico to display the ancient and venerated Marian icon for the protection of the citizenship.

The visual narrative of the clash between the solemnity of tradition and the harshness of confinement focuses on the deserted spaces of the bolognese cathedral, where on Palm Sunday the olive branches remain piled up and unused at the back of the aisles, and where during the Easter Triduum the Archbishop officiates in absolute physical solitude, deprived of the traditional gathering and collective embrace of the population.