Catholics and Muslims rejoice at the relaxation of the gauges announced by Jean Castex

The Prime Minister opened the door this Wednesday, December 2 to a relaxation of the gauge for the attendance of places of worship. The Council of State had deemed “disproportionate” the threshold of 30 people. Catholics and Muslims welcome good news.

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Relief in the Catholic community. This is the feeling that dominates this Wednesday morning after the announcements of Jean Castex. This Wednesday, December 2, the Prime Minister proposed that the maximum level of 30 people per church be reduced to 6 m² per faithful. A measure that is going in the right direction according to Father Emmanuel Pic, priest of the Church of Notre-Dame in Dijon.

“It’s a common sense proposition! Thirty people in a small chapel and thirty people in a large church like Notre-Dame, it was obviously not reasonable to define the gauge in this way.“considers the priest. He is also delighted with a change of method of the government. “What is interesting is that this new gauge was established on the basis of a dialogue with the representatives of the cults, not only of the Catholic Church. It is happy that all this takes place in the dialogue”.

In Dijon, the diocese estimates that 200 to 250 faithful could thus be received during services at Notre-Dame. It is also necessary to define which spaces will be used in the calculation of the gauges (all the buildings, the parts accessible to the public or the only seats …)

Several mosques will reopen

In the Muslim community, it is also time for optimism. “It’s good news” rejoices Mostaka Kerkri, vice-president of the French Council of Muslim Worship in Burgundy.

According to the CFCM, half of the mosques and prayer rooms in the region will be able to accommodate more faithful with this reassessment of the gauge. For the largest, this measure could also be synonymous with reopening. In Chenôve and Dijon (Grésilles, Wilson, Fontaine d’Ouche), several religious sites had remained closed. “Mosques had chosen not to reopen because they could not imagine refusing people” explains Mostafa Kerkri. If he welcomes “progress”, he nevertheless awaits the confirmation of the Prime Minister’s announcements.

This should fall before Thursday morning. Sunday, the Council of State had left the government 3 days to review its copy. A new relaxation is already expected for December 15 by representatives of cults, and especially Catholics a few days before Christmas. The same day, a few dozen representatives of the Catholic community demonstrated in Dijon.

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