Fr Leonard Dollentas
The postponed 32nd Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 proceeded in a simplified manner and was opened on 23 July 2021. It will be concluded on 8 August 2021. With a huge number of people involved in the Olympics and the spectators amid the pandemic, the archbishop of Tokyo Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi, S.V.D., issued an appeal to athletes and to visitors during the 2021 Olympic Games in Japan not to visit churches to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease. The archbishop said that due to the prevailing pandemic, visitors, including athletes, “will be asked to refrain from visiting churches.”
The prelate admitted that his archdiocese has been preparing to take care of the spiritual needs of visitors during the games but decided to cancel all the plans: “There will be no special involvement on our part in the Olympics and Paralympics,” said the archbishop. He also instructed the parishes within the archdiocese of Tokyo to “take care of the spiritual needs of those who come to Japan. But in today’s situation, the priority remains not to transmit the disease. With the declaration of a state of emergency, events are expected to take place without the presence of the public,” the archbishop reiterated. “At the same time, however, the aggregation of athletes and their staff from all over the world raises concerns about a possible further increase in the number of cases of coronavirus infection,” he added.
He made a statement that the Archdiocese of Tokyo has made a commitment not to get infected and not to allow others to be infected. “This is why we have taken numerous preventive measures and have scrupulously assumed the responsibility of protecting each other to avoid the spread of the infection, protecting not only our own lives, but also those of others,” the statement said.
He assured the faithful and those involved in the Olympics they will continue “to carry out the activities of our Church by implementing the preventive measures as we have done so far.”
He also said that the local Church is not considering the idea of making the fact of being vaccinated or not a criterion for allowing participation in the Mass. “Let us remember that it is an important duty for us to protect not only our own lives but also those of all those who have received the gift of life from God,” said Archbishop Kikuchi.
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