The churches across the UAE have resonated with festive Christmas spirit.
Across the country, Christians filled the churches and stood outside chapels to listen in to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services.
In masks and observing social distance guidelines, groups of families and friends sang hymns and recited prayers at traditional midnight Mass on Friday and during Saturday services on Christmas Day brightening the weekend for churchgoers.
Registrations were mandatory last year to enter churches in Abu Dhabi and some in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah were shut on Christmas Day to limit the spread of COViD-19.
For their safety, worshippers were reminded against gathering in large numbers around brightly lit Christmas trees and nativity scenes that decorated church compounds with churchgoers in Abu Dhabi required to show proof of a PCR test with a 96-hour validity and a green pass on the Al Hosn app.
The measure was in line with guidelines for Christmas and new year issued by the National Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Authority.
At Abu Dhabi’s St Joseph cathedral, Bishop Paul Hinder led the Christmas Eve mass.
Bishop Hinder, who oversees the Catholic Vicariate, or jurisdiction, of southern Arabia covering the UAE, Oman and Yemen, said,
“Amidst the insecurities and the never-ending threat of the pandemic, we all need the good news that brings joy to our lives.”
