Pope Francis called for people to exercise prudence and obedience to Governmental restrictions on churches.

“In this time in which dispositions are beginning to be made for exiting from the quarantine, let’s pray to the Lord that he gives his people, all of us, the grace of prudence and obedience to those dispositions, so the pandemic does not return,” Francis said.

He spoke after Italian bishops had reacted testily to media reports that a ban on public masses would not be included in the first phase of easing lockdown restrictions.

The Conference of Italian Bishops (CEI) put out a note saying they “cannot accept seeing the exercise of freedom of worship compromised.”

One Italian bishop, Giovanni D’Ercole of Ascoli Piceno, issued a video message in which he declared, “This is a dictatorship, to impede access to worship, which is one of our fundamental freedoms.”

Some media in Italy interpreted the Pope’s remarks as a rebuke of the Italian bishops, while others felt that Francis was currying favour with the Prime Minister so as to achieve a more favourable return for the celebration of public mass.

This is the second time Francis has intervened in such a way. Previously he criticised the Rome diocese for closing churches beyond what was required by the Government. His own personal almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, flouted the rules by opening his own church. Within 24 hours the diocese reversed itself.