Catholics in San Francisco, under the leadership of Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, are protesting current restrictions on Mass, CBS reported, and parishes throughout the country face similar limitations.

Currently, the city of San Francisco has a 12-person attendance limit on outdoor Masses. 

Minnesota’s Catholic churches have been under similar limitations recently, with Gov. Tim Walz (D) having issued an executive order on July 22, requiring all attendees aged 5 and older to wear a mask. Minnesota also has limited church services to very small attendance sizes.

“As you know, the Catholic bishops of Minnesota believe that the previous limitation on faith-based gatherings to 10 people unreasonably burdened the church’s ability to fully meet the sacramental needs of our faithful,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul & Minneapolis wrote in a statement. 

In an op-ed written by Cordileone in the Washington Post, he decried San Francisco's response to public worship amid the COVID-19 virus, calling out the inconsistencies that exist in current allowances for activities. 

“People can freely go to parks here, as long as they stay 6 feet apart. If they follow proper social distancing and wear masks, people can eat on an outdoor patio with no hard numerical limit,” Cordileone wrote. “Indoor shopping malls are already open at 25% capacity. Catholics in San Francisco are increasingly noticing the simple unfairness. As one of my parishioners asked recently, ‘Why can I spend three hours indoors shopping for shoes at Nordstrom’s but can’t go to Mass?’”

The Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Facebook post stated, “There is no science that says only one person should be allowed to pray in churches such as the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, which seats 2,500 people. There’s only one explanation for such a rule: a dislike of the Catholic Church.” 

Cordileone also wrote that there are similar conditions for worship limitations in California, New Jersey, Maine, Virginia, Connecticut and Nevada.