Three days.
This is the deadline set by the Council of State for the government to review the decree limiting the number of faithful authorized to attend religious ceremonies to 30 people.
"The Prime Minister is ordered to modify, within three days [...] the provisions (of the decree limiting the number of faithful to 30, editor's note) by taking strictly proportionate measures to supervise gatherings and meetings in establishments of worship ”, decided the highest French administrative court, seized in summary Friday by Catholic associations.
They considered that this was an “unnecessary, disproportionate and discriminatory” measure.
The mosques of Paris and the inner suburbs, they had decided to remain closed, pending a less restrictive limit, frustrating for their flock.
A "manifestly disproportionate" decision
Me Antoine Delvolvé, a lawyer for the Council of State on behalf of the diocese of Paris, pleaded a slightly different argument on Saturday: “The ban on religious ceremonies for more than 30 people in places of worship is manifestly disproportionate in that 'it does not take into account the size of religious buildings ”.
He took for example the Fnac des Ternes, in Paris (17th century), which can accommodate “604 people in the store” while it is “smaller than Saint-Sulpice”.
"If Saint-Sulpice, with its 6,170 m2, can only accommodate 30 people, that's 205 m2 per person while we are at 8 m2 for traders," said Franck Bouscau, representative of the association. Civitas.
The rigorous association, in its communication, did not hesitate to take as an example the most controversial parish of Paris to denounce "the desire to humiliate Catholics": in Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet, wrote Civitas, "it would be necessary celebrate more than a hundred masses in one Sunday so that each faithful can attend public worship ”.
Worship, a fundamental freedom
This Sunday, in a very detailed decision, the Council of State recalls that freedom of worship, which includes the freedom "to participate collectively in ceremonies", is one of the fundamental freedoms.
He believes that the health situation requires "to regulate the conditions of access and presence in places of worship" but that "if in the current phase gatherings and meetings of more than six people are prohibited, the activities which are carried out in the places of worship are not of the same nature and the fundamental freedoms which are at stake are not the same ”.
The high court also notes the "disproportionate nature with regard to the objective of preserving public health" of the government measure.
And rather than validating the protocols presented by the various associations which referred it, the Council of State prefers to refer to the executive.
The Conference of Bishops of France (CEF), which expected Jean Castex to announce Thursday a gauge proportionate to the size of the buildings, believes this Sunday that "the right (has) thus been restored and the reason recognized".
"However, she hopes that the legal remedy will remain the exception in the dialogue with the authorities of our country", she adds while her representatives have a meeting at the end of the afternoon with the Prime Minister.
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Priests had already braved confinement, by organizing clandestine masses.
Saturday evening, in Paris in particular, 170 people were able to attend the office in the Saint-Léon church.