Karl Rahner, one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century, once wrote: “The Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist at all.” By “mystic”, Rahner did not mean that Christians should don monastic habits and retreat to the desert, but that believers would need a genuine ­experience of God “from the very heart of our existence”.

In the midst of the second wave of Covid-19 and the looming restrictions on freedom of worship across Europe, his words seem apt. They also help frame remarks made by Pope Francis in a recent interview, where he addressed the repercussions for the Church of a second lockdown. Many bishops are ­anxious about the impact that closing church buildings will have on people’s faith, and worry that when they reopen, some won’t return. The Pope doesn’t share those fears.

“I will tell you about an episode that displeased me,” Francis told Gian Marco Chiocci, director of the Italian news agency, Adnkronos. “I learned of a bishop who claimed that ‘people’ had lost the ‘habit’ of going to church during the current pandemic and will no longer go to kneel before a crucifix or to receive Holy Communion. I say if these ‘people’ only went to church out of ‘habit’ it would be better if they stayed at home.”