Rome Newsroom, Nov 8, 2020 / 10:00 am
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.