France's highest administrative court has rebuffed the bishops' bid to challenge a ban on public Masses in the country's second lockdown because of rising cases of coronavirus.
The Conseil d'Etat, basing its decision on video broadcasts of church services in recent months, said the Catholic Church had in recent months not observed the strict health standards the government had set down.
This was especially problematic because the advanced age of many Mass goers made them more vulnerable, it said.
“We’re disappointed, of course,” Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort said. But he accepted the decision, saying: “We have learned to live in a regime of separation and to enjoy the freedom that the Church finds there to live her own life … not against society but within it.”
France’s second lockdown lets churches stay open for private prayer but bans public services and limits funerals to 30 participants.
The bishops' conference filed its emergency appeal against the ban after pressure from conservative Catholic groups complaining it was a violation of their religious freedom. It said the measure was “out of proportion” and Mass was a vital service for the faithful.
Other faiths did not join the appeal. Like Catholic bishops, some leaders said the government should have consulted them more before deciding. But they did not want to take secular authorities to court over the issue.
The court said the ban would last until the planned end of the current “health emergency” on 16 November. If the emergency is extended, the government should consult again with religious leaders.
The bishops conference was not unanimous about the appeal. Bishops supporting it said off the record the Church needed to stand up to a government it felt was trying to limit its room to act in public.
The new lockdown kept schools and public transport open, so religious services with reduced congregations should be allowed, they argued.
Archbishop Pascal Wintzer of Poitiers, a member of the conference’s permanent council, said speaking of religious persecution against Catholics in France was “unhealthy”.
“Attacks against Christians are not coming from the State, which exercises its duty to the people and the law, but from supporters of political Islam,” he wrote in La Croix.
Meanwhile abuse charges against 13 French priests, more victims come forward
Eight French priests are currently under judicial investigation for sexual abuse and another five are either behind bars or wearing electronic tags, according to a report to the French bishops autumn meeting.
The report, based on information from dioceses for the period from October 2018 to August 2020, said 189 priests and two lay Church employees had been accused of abuse, the conference said after its videoconference.
Some 320 presumed victims had contacted French dioceses in the reporting period, compared to 211 during the previous period from January 2017 to October 2018, it said. Of these, 110 were serious enough to be passed on to judicial authorities.
“There is still a long way to go to create a Church that is a safe home for all,” wrote Bishop Luc Crepy of Puy-en-Velay, head of the conference’s committee on paedophilia.
As part of their efforts against sexual abuse, the bishops have appointed an independent commission to conduct the most extensive study yet into the scandal. It is due to issue its report in autumn 2021.
The commission, which has been touring the country interviewing victims and scouring archives, said in June it had so far found more than 3,000 people have been sexually abused by about 1,500 priests and employees of the Church since 1950.
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