By discovering on social networks the images of two Masses celebrated in Latin on Saturday April 3 and Sunday April 4 by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest bringing together nearly 200 faithful in the Church of Saint Joan of Arc in Reims, without masks, without barrier gestures or social distancing, an Ardennes mayor explained his anger in the Union newspaper.
Following this publication, the Prosecutor Matthieu Bourrette opened a criminal investigation for “non-compliance with barrier gestures during a pandemic”.
He said he was relying on "general penal policy directives sent by the Minister of Justice on April 3" to open this investigation, "in particular for non-compliance with wearing a mask.
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"Masks and hydroalcoholic gel are distributed"
"This is not true", disputed the canon of Reims of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICRSP).
If Jean Maïdanatz admits “removing his mask when he speaks”, he affirms that “the majority of the faithful, 90 on Saturdays and a hundred on Sundays, have respected barrier gestures and distances.
"In addition, he affirms that" masks and hydroalcoholic gel are distributed ".
But that he "does not have the means to force the faithful to the masks."
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For the time being, the Archbishop of Reims, Mgr Éric de Moulins-Beaufort did not wish to react to the opening of this criminal investigation.
"He lets justice do its work," explained Sixtine Rousselot, communications officer at the archdiocese.
VIDEO.
Easter mass without respecting sanitary rules in Paris: “Masks?
Not when we baptize ”
Obviously, this case recalls the four o'clock Easter mass, celebrated in the church of Saint-Eugène-Sainte-Cécile in Paris (9th century) which was held without any respect for sanitary rules.
There too, the prosecution opened a preliminary investigation for endangering the lives of others.
The investigations were entrusted to the Department of Proximity Security of the Paris agglomeration (DSPAP).
