The disappointment is heavy in the Catholic world before the refusal of the Council of State to grant Catholic public masses during the second confinement but the bishops' conference "
will not call for illegality
", confirmed in the evening of Saturday November 7, Vincent Neymon, spokesman for the episcopate.
She "
complies with the decision of the administrative judge
" of the Council of State that she had requested as "
arbitrator
" to "
contest
" the fact of the prohibition of public masses, so it is not a question of "
disobeying
" now or to “
refute
” but to “
comply
” with this decision.
Read also: Prohibition of public worship: the Council of State rejects the freedom summary filed by the Catholic Church
“
We respect the framework of the law
” confirmed for his part the secretary general of the episcopate, Father Hugues de Woillemont and “
we will remain within the framework of the law
”, insisting instead on the “
dialogue which continues
” with the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior.
The French Catholic episcopate, as such, had indeed filed an summary - which it had not done in the spring - to request the return of public masses during confinement.
An official position of the Church of France on this subject was to arrive in the evening.
The two men spoke warmly on Saturday evening, a few minutes after the result of the summary proceedings before the Council of State during a press conference planned for a long time, at the conclusion of the autumn assembly of bishops which was to be held. held in Lourdes and which took place by videoconference.
Bishop Rey does not exclude an appeal
Bishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the bishops should also address this subject in his closing speech which will be broadcast on KTO, Sunday morning at 9 a.m.
Mgr Dominique Rey, bishop of Toulon, one of the prelates who had filed in the name of his diocese, a summary, does not rule out filing an appeal: “
We take note of the decision of the Council of State.
It can cause misunderstanding and suffering in many people.
Faced with the questioning of freedom of worship, Catholics cannot attend the Eucharistic celebration which is the source and summit of Christian life.
We take note of this decision by engaging in all remedial measures.
More than ever our society needs God to face the fears and uncertainties that weigh on our time.
"
To refuse the expression of faith is an attack on people in what they hold most dear.
Bishop Bernard Ginoux
His colleague from Montauban, Bishop Bernard Ginoux, strongly deplores the refusal of the Council of State: “
This measure is offensive and unfair.
The absence of Masses affects the faith of Catholics.
The government could avoid it as much as this Saturday morning, in Nice, the Prime Minister recalled that the freedom of worship was fundamental.
As bishop, I regret that the Catholic 'vox populi' is not heard.
To refuse the expression of faith is an attack on people in what they hold most dear.
"
Read also: Public Masses: how the Conference of Bishops of France decided to act
Because, he considers, the mass cannot be replaced by the mass on video: “For Catholics, mass is vital.
It is my real encounter with the living Christ, even if I do not commune with his body.
All the more so when I receive it as '
living bread'
, '
food for eternal life'
”.
This decision therefore represents, according to him, “
a great pain, not only personal, but also for the faithful who need to participate in the Eucharist.
"Especially since"
this penalty is unfair when you consider that for the Catholic celebrations we applied the 'barrier gestures' and followed the sanitary instructions.
In addition, most of our churches are large enough to establish the desired distance between the faithful.
On the other hand, we note that, in many places, this is not really respected, such as in schools, public transport, supermarkets, etc.… And let's not talk about life in certain districts of our cities. !
"
Many faithful and priests are also shocked: thus Geneviève Chotard, 22, at the origin of a petition on the web "
pourlamesse.fr
" which collected more than 100,000 signatures in one week: "
It is obviously a huge disappointment, for us and for the more than one hundred thousand signatories of the petition, especially since this decision comes a few hours after the tribute to the victims of the Nice attack, directed against Catholics where Prime Minister Jean Castex has also defended freedom of worship.
We take note of the decision but we assure that we will continue to fight for freedom of worship, with our more than 100,000 supporters.
"
Jean-Benoît Harel with whom Geneviève Chotard launched this petition, however, wants to be optimistic because he considers that the decision of the Council of State "
obliges the government to open a consultation with the representatives of the religions
" before "
November 16
", which created, he believes, "
the conditions to change the current restrictions.
Concretely, this involves working together to establish a new health protocol to reconcile freedom of worship with the objective of health protection.
"
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