Share

April 26, 2020 The Prime Minister's Decree passed this evening "arbitrarily excludes the possibility of celebrating Mass with the people". The Italian Bishops "cannot accept to see the exercise of freedom of worship compromised. It should be clear to everyone that the commitment to service to the poor, so significant in this emergency, stems from a faith that must be able to feed on its sources. , in particular sacramental life ".

The CEI, the Italian Bishops' Conference, criticizes the measures announced this evening by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte with evident reference to the possibility of officiating the masses.

"The government is studying - the bishops recall - new measures to allow the wider exercise of freedom of worship. The words of the Minister of the Interior, Luciana Lamorgese, in the interview released last Thursday 23 April in Avvenire arrived after a continuous and available dialogue between the General Secretariat of the CEI, the Ministry and the
Prime Minister itself. An dialogue in which the Church - he adds - accepted, with suffering and a sense of responsibility, the government limitations assumed to face the health emergency: an interlocut during which several times it was explicitly underlined that - when the limitations assumed to face the pandemic are reduced - the Church demands to be able to resume her pastoral action ".

"Now, after these weeks of negotiation that have seen the CEI present Guidelines and Protocols with which to face a transitory phase in full compliance with all health standards, the Prime Minister's Decree passed this evening - underline the Italian bishops - excludes arbitrarily the possibility of celebrating Mass with the people. The
Presidency of the Council and the Technical-Scientific Committee are reminded of the duty to distinguish between their responsibility - giving precise indications of a sanitary nature - and that of the Church, called to organize the life of the Christian community, in compliance with the measures prepared, but in the fullness of its autonomy ".

The Italian Bishops "cannot accept to see the exercise of freedom of worship compromised. It should be clear to everyone that the commitment to service to the poor, so significant in this emergency, stems from a faith that must be able to feed on its sources. , in particular sacramental life ".