CNA Staff, Apr 17, 2020 / 13:00 pm
A German cardinal has said it is "high time" to restore public liturgies as the country begins to ease lockdown measures.
Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne said that Masses with congregations should be permitted "as soon as possible" after German Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled that smaller shops and schools could reopen in the coming weeks.
Cardinal Woelki told CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-language news partner, April 17: "Without throwing these rules overboard, it is high time to make public services possible again. I am not thinking of a return to normality as we knew it before the coronavirus crisis. Of course, it is much too early for that."
"The hygiene regulations must continue to be adhered to, the distance rules and much more. We have all learned new things and will also practice them conscientiously. But services should now be permitted again as soon as possible within a precisely defined framework."