Berlin (KNA) - The German government’s decision to prolong the ban on public church services has been met with disappointment especially among representatives of the Catholic Church.
Ahead of a meeting on April 17 between religious leaders and the federal government, there are growing calls to allow the faithful to worship together as soon as possible. The president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Thomas Sternberg, said he understood that protective measures were necessary but called for a swift resumption of public church services.
“We expect that religious communities will be given opportunities to congregate for public worship to a limited extent and subject to strict rules,” Sternberg said. Online streaming of services was a help but not a substitute.
Sternberg noted that the Federal Constitutional Court had confirmed the importance of the fundamental right to religious practice. “We hope that in the upcoming talks the issue of religious life will not be treated as subordinate.”
The bishop of Goerlitz, Wolfgang Ipolt, also said he regretted the extended ban. “Refraining from the celebration of Easter was a great sacrifice,” he said. He therefore hoped that a sensible agreement on ways to resume public church services would be found.
The religious affairs spokesman for the conservative parliamentary group in the Bundestag lower house of parliament, Hermann Groehe, joined calls for a relaxation of the ban. “Church services celebrated together are an essential expression of religious freedom and for many believers a source of hope and strength in times that are not easy,” said Groehe, a Protestant. He said he very much hoped there will be an agreement on public services with binding protective measures.
The general secretary of the Muslim Milli Goerus movement in Germany, Bekir Altas, said he “can’t understand why mosques, churches or synagogues must remain closed if shopping in the city is being allowed.”
Religious communities should be trusted enough to be permitted to open gradually under certain conditions, he said.
