The obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days will not be restored in time for Christmas because of the continuing threat from COVID-19.
The bishops of England and Wales wanted to bring back the obligation by the First Sunday of Advent but have conceded that the pandemic meant it was still too dangerous to expect vulnerable people to go to church.
Canon Christopher Thomas, the general secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said the prevalence of the virus and the potentially deadly risk of infection meant that many people were still not free to attend Mass.
