Priestly Life, an online resource for Spanish-speaking Catholic priests, recently published an article by Pedro Maria Reyes Vizcaino, a priest and a doctor of Roman Catholic canon law, titled “The Precept of Hearing Mass on Sunday,” in which he discusses the obligation of Catholics to attend Sunday mass. He also argues that Catholics should advocate for civil legislation enabling governments to protect and “sanctify Sunday.” The Catholic position is one that sees Sunday not only as a church practice but increasingly as a public institution that governments should help preserve for the common good.
Priestly Life expressed the following:
• “For centuries, the Church has prescribed the obligation to hear the entire Mass on Sundays and some more important feasts. The purpose of this article is to explain the scope and legal obligations that derive from this precept, in addition to offering some pastoral considerations.” [1]
• “The faithful are obliged to attend Mass on all Sundays and holy days of obligation, an obligation that entails grave sin if not fulfilled. Paragraph 2181 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that ‘the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on holy days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (e.g., sickness, caring for infants) or dispensed by their own pastor (cf. CIC can. 1245). Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.” [1]
• “The obligation to hear Mass applies to all Catholic faithful from the age of reason who are not legitimately impeded or have not received a dispensation. Therefore, it is binding on Catholic faithful; non-Catholics are not obligated to attend Mass. However, it should be remembered that they have an obligation to worship God, as this is a matter of natural law.” [1]
• “In our time, it must be taken into account that the circumstances of many of the faithful sometimes make it very difficult to fulfill the precept of rest. The current trend is to allow shopping centers to open on Sundays: John Paul II reminds us that “it is natural for Christians to ensure that, even in the special circumstances of our time, civil legislation takes into account their duty to sanctify Sunday. In any case, it is a matter of conscience to organize Sunday rest in such a way that they can participate in the Eucharist, abstaining from work and activities incompatible with the sanctification of the Lord’s Day, with its typical joy, and with the necessary rest of mind and body” Apostolic Letter Dies Domini, no. 67.” [1]
Rome is teaching that Sunday should remain a protected day for worship, rest, and spiritual renewal, even in modern society where economic and commercial pressures make this increasingly difficult. These statements are based on the misguided Catholic belief that Sunday is the “Lord’s Day” and should therefore be regarded as sacred and set apart from ordinary labor and commercial activity.
The Catholic Church acknowledges that many people today work on Sundays and live in economies driven by nonstop commerce. That is why Catholicism teaches that governments should be encouraged to pass laws recognizing Sunday as a special day. According to Catholic social teaching and the common good, they are not advocating for private worship; the objective is to shape society as a whole around Sunday rest.
Statements like these demonstrate Rome’s ongoing efforts to encourage governments and societies to recognize and protect Sunday observance through public policy and civil legislation. This very trajectory—which highlights the growing union of religious influence and civil legislation concerning a day of worship—is part of the developments described in Revelation 13 involving enforced worship and the elevation of human religious tradition above God’s commandments.
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