Pastor Cliff Lea preaches over a parking lot filled with cars during a drive-in service at the First Baptist Church of Leesburg on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020. With coronavirus prevention measures shuttering houses of worship, pastors across the country are urging parishioners to use their cars to safely bring their communities closer together. Drive-in churches are popping up so worshipers can assemble. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — Christians around the world celebrated Easter Sunday isolated in their homes by the coronavirus while pastors preached the faith’s joyous news of Christ’s resurrection to empty pews. One Florida church drew a large turnout for a drive-in service in a parking lot.
In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the first major world leader to test positive for the virus, paid an emotional tribute to the country’s National Health Service following his release from the hospital, saying its doctors and nurses had saved his life “no question.” He especially thanked two nurses who stood by his bedside for 48 hours “when things could have gone either way.”
Italian Carabinieri stand by a cross, donated to them during the Holy Year of 2016, placed by an empty St. Peter’s Square in homage to Pope Francis while the pope celebrated an Easter Mass inside an empty St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, April 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
The strangeness of this Easter was evident at the Vatican. St. Peter’s Square, where tens of thousands would normally gather to hear Pope Francis, was empty of crowds, ringed by police barricades. Francis celebrated Easter Mass inside the largely vacant basilica.
In his address, the pope called for global solidarity to confront the “epochal challenge” of the pandemic. He urged political leaders to give hope and opportunity to the millions laid off work.
Pope Francis, small white figure at center left, delivers his blessing during Easter Sunday Mass inside an empty St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, April 12, 2020. (Andreas Solaro/Pool Photo via AP)
Worldwide, families who normally would attend church in their Easter best and later gather for festive meals instead were hunkered down at home. Police checkpoints in Europe and outside closed churches elsewhere left the faithful with few worship options other than watching services online or on TV.
Some U.S. pastors went ahead with in-person services despite state or local bans on large gatherings.
At the Happy Gospel Church in Bradenton, Florida, about 100 cars carrying 250 people gathered in the parking lot to hear Pastor Bill Bailey’s Easter sermon. Some sat in lawn chairs or on tailgates, but families stayed at least 6 feet apart; those in their cars occasionally honked to convey agreement with Bailey’s remarks.
Lone Star Cowboy Church Executive Pastor Jason Mauck waits for the start their live-streamed Easter service Sunday, April 12, 2020, in Montgomery, Texas. The service was held in the church’s empty dirt arena where normally thousands would have attended but could not due to social distancing guidelines during the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
In Louisiana, a pastor who is facing misdemeanor charges for holding services despite a ban on gatherings, said people from every state and all but one continent attended his Easter service Sunday morning.
“My hope is not in a vaccine for a virus, but all my hope is in Jesus,” Rev. Tony Spell said during the service shown online at Life Tabernacle Church in the city of Central.
Worshipers could be heard clapping, singing and responding “amen” during the service, though it was not clear how many attended.
A man prays while attending an Easter service at Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio, Sunday, April 12, 2020. Many churches are adapting their services as Christians around the world are celebrating Easter at a distance due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
President Donald Trump had said he planned to watch an online service led by the Rev. Robert Jeffress of the Southern Baptist megachurch First Baptist Dallas, although the White House wouldn’t confirm whether he did. The pastor, a staunch ally of the president, mentioned Trump in his remarks.
“We are going to get through this crisis with your continued strong leadership and the power of God,” Jeffress said.
In their own Easter message, Trump and his wife, Melania, paid tribute to the medical professionals, first responders and other essential workers striving to combat the pandemic.
Back on March 24, at a Fox News virtual town hall, Trump had broached the possibility that the U.S. could emerge from widespread lockdowns by this weekend.
“I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter,” he said.
“Wouldn’t it be great to have all of the churches full?” Trump said in a subsequent interview. “You’ll have packed churches all over our country.”
Rev. William Schipper, pastor of Mary, Queen of the Rosary Parish, left, wears a mask and gloves out of concern for the coronavirus as he sprinkles holy water and blesses parishioners who remain in their vehicles in the parking lot of the church, on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020, in Spencer, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Instead, most churches were empty, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, which is now the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who led a televised Mass, said he was pleased congregants could have a virtual celebration.
“We miss you though,” he added. “We’d rather you be here physically.”
In the morning, members of churches from across New York sang “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” from balconies and windows.
“Even if you didn’t hear everyone, God heard everyone,” said Kathy Keller, of Reedemer Presbyterian Church, who helped organize the event online.
In Europe, countries used roadblocks, fines and other tactics to keep people from traveling over an Easter weekend with beautiful spring weather.
The Italian government said weekend police patrols resulted in more than 12,500 people being sanctioned and 150 facing criminal charges for allegedly violating lockdown measures.
On the hopeful side, officials said Italy recorded the lowest number of new coronavirus victims in three weeks, with 431 people dying in the past day to bring its total to over 19,800. It was the lowest day-to-day toll since March 19.
As hard-hit countries like Italy and Spain see reduced daily virus infections and deaths, economic pressures are mounting to loosen the tight restrictions on daily life.
Sorbs sing in front of a chapel in Gaseritz, eastern Germany, Sunday, April 12, 2020. Because Corona crisis the Easter riders processions have been cancelled. Normally according to a more than hundred years old tradition men of the Sorbs, dressed in black tailcoats ride on decorated horses, proclaiming, singing and praying the message of Jesus’ resurrection. The Sorbs are a Slavic German minority located near the German-Polish border. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)
Southern Europe and the United States, whose death toll of over 22,000 is now the world’s highest, have been the recent focal points of the pandemic. But coronavirus hot spots have been shifting, with new concerns rising in Japan, Turkey and Britain, where the death toll passed 10,000.
Uncertainties loomed about the months ahead, with a top European Union official suggesting people hold off on making any summer vacation plans.
Some European nations started tentative moves to ease their shutdowns. Spain, which on Sunday reported its lowest daily growth in infections in three weeks, will allow workers in some nonessential industries to return to factories and construction sites Monday.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older people and the infirm, it can cause severe symptoms and lead to death.
More than 1.8 million infections have been reported and over 114,000 people have died worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has the highest numbers, with over 555,000 confirmed cases. The figures certainly understate the true size and toll of the pandemic, due to limited testing, uneven counting of the dead and some governments’ desire to play down the extent of outbreaks.
In Britain, Johnson thanked those who treated him ahead of his release Sunday from St. Thomas’ Hospital and praised the entire National Health Service, which he called the “beating heart of this country.” His week in the hospital included three nights in the intensive care unit, where he received oxygen.
“I can’t thank them enough. I owe them my life,” said Johnson, 55, in his first public statement since he was moved from intensive care Thursday. His office said he will continue his recovery at Chequers, the prime minister’s country home.
A family under lockdown watches a television broadcast of Archbishop of Lagos Alfred Adewale Martins conducting a service at the Holy Cross Cathedral, in their home in Lagos, Nigeria, on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
In the United States, about half the deaths are in the New York metropolitan area, but hospitalizations are slowing in the state and other indicators suggest that lockdowns and social distancing are “flattening the curve” of infections.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said the economy in parts of the country could be allowed to reopen as early as next month.
While he said there’s no light switch that will be clicked to turn everything back, he told CNN’s “State of the Union” that “rolling reentry” will be required based on the status of the pandemic in various parts of the country.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that 758 people died in the state Saturday, the sixth day in a row the toll topped 700. More than 9,300 people have died in New York.
Winfield reported from Rome. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed.
