French Catholics protest for end to lockdown on Mass

 With banners reing “Let us Pray” and “We Want Mass,” Catholic protesters held scattered demonstrations around France on Sunday to demand that authorities relax virus lockdown measures to allow religious services.

In western city of Nantes, hundreds gared in front of a statue of Virgin Mary, some kneeling on rain-soaked pavement, according to local brocaster France Bleu. Similar garings were reported or planned in eastern city of Strasbourg, Bordeaux in southwest, and outside Saint-Louis Cadral in Versailles.

Devout Catholics sang hymns and protested for hours Friday at landmark Saint-Sulpice Church on Left Bank of Paris at a similar demonstration — but Paris police said protest didn’t respect social distancing and violated an order against praying in streets, so y banned a similar rally planned for Sunday.

With more confirmed virus cases in than any or European country, predominantly Roman Catholic France banned Mass and or religious services for month of vember as part of nationwide partial lockdown measures aimed at reining in infections and relieving pressure on hospitals . Churches and or religious sites remain open for individual visitors to come and pray.

vicar general of Paris archdiocese, Beist de Sinety, urged churchgoers to respect rules, saying Sunday on BFM television that such protests “aren’t useful.” However he called Mass “a vital necessity” and called it a kind of “suffering to t be able to go.”

While France is seeing signs that current surge may be reaching its peak, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin appealed to believers to watch services online and avoid public garings while lockdown is place. In a statement published on Twitter, he said he would meet Monday with religious leers to discuss how government may eventually open up services again, tably amid pressure to allow in-person Christmas celebrations.

One of France’s earliest virus clusters was traced to an evangelical religious garing near Strasbourg in February. region’s ensuing outbreak quickly overwhelmed hospitals , forcing France to send patients to neighboring Germany and Switzerland for treatment and prompting French military to build its first-ever peacetime field hospital to relieve saturated facilities.

To date, France has reported 44,246 virus-related deaths, and today COVID-19 patients occupy 96% of country's standard intensive care unit capacity.