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The Dresden Bishop Heinrich Timmerevers: In 2020 one of his Easter services was broadcast
Photo: Sebastian Willnow / dpa
The Catholic Church has rejected politicians' requests to only hold virtual church services at Easter.
“At Christmas we showed how we can celebrate Mass with caution.
We don't want to do without that at Easter, «tweeted the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Bätzing, before the most important Christian festival of the year.
The politicians' request that they refrain from doing so had been taken by surprise - church services were "not an accessory".
Söder doesn't want to put any pressure on churches
During their deliberations on Wednesday night, the federal and state governments decided not to ban Easter services.
However, you want to ask the religious communities to hold religious meetings only virtually on the Easter holidays due to the high corona incidence values.
According to the editorial network Germany, Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder also said: "We do not put any pressure on the churches."
The representative of the bishops' conference at the federal government, Karl Jüsten, said according to the church portal kathisch.de that talks were now being held with the federal ministry of the interior and the corresponding agencies at state level.
"We are counting on the fact that on the one hand freedom of religion is preserved and that religious practice is possible on this highest feast day in Christianity," said Jüsten accordingly.
"At the same time, the church will do everything to comply with the necessary hygiene rules."
The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) initially left its handling of the request open and announced a declaration after the consultations with politicians.
The Chairman of the Council of the EKD, Regional Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, told the newspapers of the Funke media group, "We were very surprised by the decision of the Corona summit, especially since it would affect the most important Christian festival."
The EKD will now first explain why the tried and tested hygiene protection measures should no longer suffice.
"Then we will discuss in our committees how to deal with the request."
However, the Protestant regional church in Württemberg has already announced that it will not comply with the request of politicians either: "At the moment we see no need to change our strict, proven and sustainable regulations for face-to-face services."
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Fully occupied Cologne Cathedral on Easter 2010: "We do not put any pressure on the churches"
Photo: VvoeVale / Getty Images
Last year, in the lockdown, the churches waived public Easter services.
At Christmas there were church services with particularly strict rules: many congregations relocated the celebrations outside, required registrations and severely limited the number of visitors.
apr / AFP