“The British government decided that churches will be opened in the third phase of lifting the blockade, along with hairdressers and cinemas on the 4th of July. Catholic bishops, seeing that garden shops and car dealerships are already open (…) asked that churches could be open even for private prayer. To this end, they presented the government with a detailed plan showing that they are able to open them with all sanitary safety measures necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19, said the director of The Tablet to Italian agency SIR.

– And yet the government decided to say no. It must be said that the government does not take the needs of religious communities seriously,” added Walsh.

According to the editor of The Tablet, “Churches do not make a significant contribution to the British economy and are therefore considered irrelevant by Boris Johnson’s government,” because his “priority at the moment is to revive the economy, even if opening stores and businesses poses a serious risk for public health. “

“Because churches are irrelevant to state revenues, the government has decided that they will remain closed. This attitude, which shows that no attention is paid to believers, no matter what religion they belong to, has disappointed the Catholic bishops who have so far shared the government’s decision to close down places of worship, “explains Walsh.

This is why, in an interview with the BBC and in the homily on the Solemnity of Pentecost, Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols called for the opening of churches, while Archbishop of Southwark John Wilson wrote a letter to Prime Minister Johnson in which he expressed the dissatisfaction of British bishops.

Source: pch24.pl