Germany’s leading Catholic bishop yesterday criticised a request from the Government to temporarily halt public worship during a “hard lockdown” from Holy Thursday to Easter Monday.

Angela Merkel has since performed a U-turn, following a critical backlash, describing the proposal to close churches and shops over a five-day period as a mistake.

Bishop George Bätzing, president of the German Catholic bishops’ conference, had said the request had taken him by surprise: “Easter is the most important feast for us, services are not an afterthought. At Christmas, we demonstrated how we can celebrate Mass with care. We don’t want to do without that at Easter.”

The bishops said that they would consult internally on how to respond to the announcement.

As Germany attempts to contain a third wave of the coronavirus, Merkel and the state leaders had said that a strict “Easter lockdown” would take place on April 1-5.

The Chancellor and the regional leaders said March 23: “The federal government and the Länder [states] will reach out to the religious communities with the request to hold religious meetings only virtually during this time.”