The French Catholic episcopate appealed to the Council of State against the limitation of 30 people for the resumption of worship.
The decision was taken during a crisis meeting, Thursday, November 26, at 9 p.m. bringing together the ten bishops of the "permanent council" the decision-making body of the Conference of Bishops.
Read also: Maintaining the 30-person gauge for Masses is "a serious error", denounces the episcopate
A press release published Friday morning November 27 explains this decision: “
In his statement of Thursday, November 26, the Prime Minister
announced a tonnage of 30 people
for religious celebrations as of this Sunday.
This gauge is neither understandable nor acceptable as it is.
As a result, the Permanent Council of the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) has decided to file a freedom summary with the Council of State this morning on Friday, the bishops considering that they have the duty to ensure freedom of worship in our country.
The many reactions received from the faithful, including other religions, push us to ask that the law be said.
"
The bishops also announce a meeting with the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, Sunday, November 29 at the end of the afternoon.
Mgr Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, President of the CEF, Mgr Dominique Blanchet and Mgr Olivier Leborgne, vice-presidents, as well as two other bishops and the Secretary General of the CEF, Father Hugues de Woillemont, will participate.
The bishops, indicates the
press
release “
hope that this meeting will finally be a real moment of consultation.
"
On the other hand, and unlike many bishops on the territory, the bishops' conference does not call for going beyond the height of 30 people for masses.
She therefore asks for obedience to this rule: "while
awaiting the outcome of these two steps, the rules set by the Prime Minister are in force even though we are all aware of the great difficulties in which these government decisions place them. faithful.
May the use of the law help to calm the spirits
”.
In fact, argues the bishops' conference, “
it is clear to all of us that the Mass cannot become a place of struggle and claim but remain a place of peace and communion.
"
Strict respect
In Paris, for example, Archbishop Michel Aupetit - who also files an interim liberty report at the Council of State - sent a message overnight to all his priests, explaining this decision to them because he estimates that the gauge of 30 people - who "
manifest a real contempt for religious matters and the faith of believers
" - is "
absurd
" and "
impracticable
".
Relying on the fact that the “
evangelical spirit
” is not “to
put people out or to exclude them
”, nor to “
sort out
” among the faithful, he asks concretely, Friday morning, “
to all parish priests in Paris to celebrate with strict respect for distances and barrier gestures, as they always have done.
Each will take care to limit the filling of his church without leaving anyone at the door.
"
Thursday, after the intervention of the Prime Minister, many bishops in France, had taken the same decision including the bishop of Perpignan, Mgr Norbert Turini asking, by official letter, to his priests - which is a first: "to not to set themselves up as 'accountants' of their Sunday assemblies and therefore not to reject, if this were the case, the 31st people and the following who would present themselves.
I take full responsibility for it and if it proves necessary, I will answer personally to the public authorities ”.
All of this, of course, with all the health precautions "that we have always scrupulously observed".
To read also: Bishop Michel Aupetit: "That's enough, we must stop infantilizing ourselves!"
During the first confinement, last spring, neither the episcopal conference, nor any bishop, had dared to seize the Council of State against the ban on worship.
Only Catholic associations had done so, winning their case on May 18.
On the other hand, on November 7, Mgr Eric de Moulins-Beaufort in his capacity as Archbishop of Reims and President of the Conference of Bishops of France appealed to the Council of State against the ban on worship.
Other bishops had also lodged a file in this supreme court of justice which had however not considered appropriate a resumption of worship because of the high health risk.
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