French Bishops' Appeal for Public Masses During Lockdown Rejected by Judge

Catholic News Agency ^ | 11/9/20 | Couurtney Mares

[marshmallow]

Rome Newsroom, Nov 8, 2020 / 10:00 am MT (CNA).- The French bishops’ appeal to continue public Masses during France’s national lockdown was rejected Saturday by the Council of State.

“The bishops deplore above all that the faithful will thus remain unable to participate in Mass, the summit of their faith and an irreplaceable encounter with God and with their brothers,” the French bishops’ conference said in a statement issued in response to the decision Nov. 7.

As France entered into its second lockdown of this year in November, the French bishops’ conference filed a “référé liberté” with the Council of State arguing that the most recent coronavirus restrictions “violate freedom of worship.”

A “référé liberté” is an urgent administrative procedure that is filed as a petition to a judge for the protection of fundamental rights, in this case, the right to freedom of worship.

The statement from the French bishops Nov. 7 announced that the judge's dismissal of their appeal was “based solely on health grounds.”

It said that Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, the president of the French bishops’ conference, and the French bishops will “remain vigilant in the face of any limitation on freedom of worship at a time when, for security reasons, the public authorities want to strengthen their surveillance of all religions.”

[Pearls Before Swine]

Are mosques closed, too?

[HighSierra5]

If they closed mosques heads would roll.

[Pearls Before Swine]

If they closed mosques heads would roll.

I don't doubt it. But I thought I'd mention it, since the article says "all places of worship." But, I don't believe they'd dare enforce that in the banlieus.