San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, 64, was confronted in September by Philip Lawler with the option to defy California Covid-19 restriction even at the risk of being arrested.
The State restrictions are enforced for his Cathedral but not, for instances, for tattoo parlours. Cordileone replied according to CatholicCulture.com (November 13): “Oh, if I thought that’s what would happen, I’d do it.”
However, Cordileone elaborated that he would not expect to be arrested for celebrating public Mass since this would, he believes, cause uproar among [apathetic] Catholics and religious freedom advocates.
He would rather fear “more damaging” ways to punish the Church through using the media who would stir up hysteria over rule violations after politicians would “condemn him” for endangering the public.
The problem with Cordileone's argument: How could media reports which are forgotten after a day be more damaging than eliminating the public liturgy?