The Archdiocese of Moncton has rolled back a policy, issued earlier this week, that would have required proof of Covid vaccination for anyone attending Mass. Archbishop Valery Vienneau said that he had dropped that requirement after conferring with local public officials.

The archdiocese now will not require proof of vaccination. Instead it will require masks in churches, and limit the size of congregations to 50% of the building’s capacity.

The policy announced on Monday had stunned many Catholics, and gone well beyond the strict regulations issued by the government of the New Brunswick province. Mass-goers would have been required to show proof of vaccination, and ushers would have registered that information, making it available to public officials. That policy also apparently would have applied to confessions, in clear violation of the guaranteed anonymity of the confessional.

With that policy rescinded, the new rules in the Moncton archdiocese match those in other Catholic dioceses of New Brunswick.