A California bishop lifted the Sunday Mass obligation in his diocese, citing some parishioners’ fears of potential immigration enforcement actions as the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign sweeps the country.

San Bernardino Bishop Alberto Rojas issued a decree on Tuesday saying that all members of his diocese “who, due to genuine fear of immigration enforcement actions, are unable to attend Sunday Mass or Masses on holy days of obligation are dispensed from this obligation” until further notice.

The Diocese of San Bernardino includes 1.6 million Roman Catholic believers across San Bernardino and Riverside counties in Southern California, according to the diocese’s website. Both counties have large Latino populations.

“In issuing this decree, I am guided by the Church’s mission to care for the spiritual welfare of all those entrusted to my care, particularly those who face fear or hardship,” Rojas wrote.

He cited “the concerns expressed by many of our brothers and sisters regarding fears of attending Mass due to potential immigration enforcement actions by civil authorities.”

Canon law of the Catholic Church states that “a diocesan bishop, whenever he judges that it contributes to their spiritual good, is able to dispense the faithful from universal and particular disciplinary laws issued for his territory or his subjects by the supreme authority of the Church,” according to Rojas’ decree.

The bishop’s exemption marked an extraordinary step, given that Sunday Mass attendance is a requirement for observant Catholics.

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As CNBC noted:

Catholic bishops have occasionally granted Mass exemptions during natural disasters, war or societal events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. But this appears to be the first time a bishop has invoked such a decree over immigration enforcement. … Failure to attend Mass ‘unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor’ is a mortal sin, according to the Roman Catholic Catechism.

In his decree on Tuesday, Rojas encouraged those dispensed from Mass to “maintain their spiritual communion with Christ” in various ways, including through personal prayer and participating in televised or online Masses.

Following reports of raids conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in his diocese last month, Rojas issued a statement “on the very painful and challenging topic of immigration.”

“While we surely respect and appreciate the right of law enforcement to keep our communities safe from violent criminals, we are now seeing agents detain people as they leave their homes, in their places of work and other randomly chosen public settings,” he wrote. “We have experienced at least one case of ICE agents entering a parish property and seizing several people. It should be no surprise that this is creating a tremendous amount of fear, confusion and anxiety for many. It is not of the Gospel of Jesus Christ — which guides us in all that we do.”