Republican calls for a ‘State Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer’ to repent for sins that brought on coronavirus

On Monday, The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jonathan Lai reported that a Republican state representative in Pennsylvania is introducing a resolution demanding "A State Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer."

The resolution, according to state Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, is necessary because the coronavirus pandemic "may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins."

Many congregations in both the United States and abroad have suspended normal operations in response to the pandemic, with Pope Francis even advocating — contrary to centuries of Roman Catholic doctrine — that those worshipers in particular danger from the virus ask God for forgiveness directly rather than attend Confession.