The Catholic Church may have allowed the faithful from doing other religious activities online but not confession.

Msgr. Pedro Quitorio III, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) media director, said confession cannot be made online as all sacraments should be communitarian.

“All the Seven Sacraments are communitarian. They are celebrated in a community,” he said.

“If you talk about celebration in a community that cannot be substituted by a virtual reality that’s why that’s not allowed,” added Quitorio.

The CBCP official then stressed the importance of going to confession especially during Holy Week.

“It’s important that you tell your sins (to a priest), then you do penance after confession,” Quitorio said.

It can be recalled that the CBCP earlier came out with a virtual visita iglesia for those who are not able to go to different churches for some valid reasons.

By simply clicking www.cbcponline.net one will not only be able to visit seven famous churches in the country but also do the traditional Stations of the Cross.

Aside from the visita iglesia portal, the CBCP website also gives the faithful the opportunity to hear the reflections of the bishops about Lent among others.

Despite the availability of some religious activities in cyberspace, Quitorio still stressed the importance of the faithful going to church and participating in the Mass.

“That should be taken as a substitute on an extreme situation that you cannot make it,” he said.

In a related development, the Lenten pilgrimage in Antipolo City where thousands of pilgrims converge during Holy Thursday and Good Friday was generally peaceful with only some incidents of snatching and stealing recorded by the police.

In a report reaching the Rizal Police Provincial Office (PPO) yesterday, no major incidents happened during the “Penitential Walk”, a yearly walking event to visit the cathedral of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage.

The Antipolo Police said eight persons were arrested for snatching and pickpocket incidents since Thursday afternoon.

Aside from the huge crowd, numbering more than 2 million, who made it to the cathedral Friday, thousands of trash littered the streets leading to the city.

Drinking water, courtesy of several local candidates were distributed in cups to the walking pilgrims, observers noted.

Vendors selling all kinds of snacks and refreshments lined up the whole stretch of Ortigas Avenue from Tikling Junction in Taytay all the way up to Antipolo City to take advantage of the huge crowd that joined the yearly Lenten activity here.

PPO director, Senior Supt. Jonathan Ferdinand Miano said police stations reported a peaceful observance of Holy Thursday and Good Friday in their areas of responsibilities.

In Cainta, Supt. Nereo Torrecampo told this reporter that no untoward incidents happened during the observance of the two-day Lenten activity.

Supt. Dioscoro Maata, Antipolo Police chief, said the participation of the city’s local government personnel, barangay police auxiliary, socio-civic group members, and volunteer medical personnel contributed to the orderly observance of Lent. (With a report by Nel B. Andrade)