The Diocesan Council of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Berlin issued an official statement on July 7, 2026, opposing efforts to weaken Sunday trading restrictions. In a statement titled “Sunday Is Family Day! Maintain Sunday Protection,” the Catholic Church in Berlin called upon both citizens and public officials to preserve Sunday as the weekly day of rest. According to the statement, Sunday is not only important for Christians but is also a “weekly day of rest for all people.”
Dr. Karlies Abmeier, Chairwoman of the Diocesan Council of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Berlin, issued the following statement:
• “The chairwoman of the Diocesan Council of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Berlin, Dr. Karlies Abmeier, speaks out against a softening of Sunday protection: ‘Sunday is not only of great importance for Christians, but as a weekly day of rest for all people. It brings rest and is community-building’.” [1]
• “Abmeier emphasizes in particular the importance of Sunday protection for families with children: ‘Sunday is the weekly family day par excellence. Families can plan their Sunday together in the long term, as it is basically free from work. Sunday strengthens families. It should stay that way’.” [1]
• “Sunday work is already a great burden for parents who work in health care, public transport, the fire brigade or the police. ‘These services are important and present many families with great organizational and personal challenges. We should not burden more families’.” [1]
Sunday is not the biblical weekly day of rest for all people. Seventh-day Adventists uphold the day of rest that Scripture itself establishes—the seventh day of the week—rather than a day substituted by human authority (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:8-11). Nowhere does the New Testament transfer the sanctity, rest, or blessing of the seventh day to the first day of the week. We must follow the plain biblical command rather than church tradition. The blessings God attached to His day—rest, spiritual renewal, family cohesion, and recognition of the Creator—belong to the seventh-day Sabbath.
Dr. Karlies Abmeier, Chairwoman of the Diocesan Council, declared that Sunday “is not only of great importance for Christians but also a weekly day of rest for all people. It brings rest and is community-building.” She further called it “the weekly family day par excellence” that “strengthens families” and should remain free from work for the good of society. This language takes the very blessings Scripture attaches to the seventh-day Sabbath—rest from labor, family strengthening, and communal and spiritual benefit—and applies them to Sunday.
According to Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 13-14, the little-horn power, understood as the Papal system, is depicted as attempting to alter God’s times and law. The distinctive mark of Rome is precisely the change of the Sabbath. The final test will center on this issue. When civil power is used to enforce Sunday observance as a universal day of rest and worship—after the world has been enlightened concerning the true Sabbath—those who knowingly choose the man-made institution over God’s commandment will receive the “mark of the beast.”
The seal of God, by contrast, is connected with loyalty to the Creator’s Sabbath (Revelation 7; 14:7, 12; Ezekiel 20:12, 20). The prophetic picture in Daniel and Revelation identifies the eventual state-enforced observance of Sunday as the central issue of loyalty in the final crisis—the mark of the beast versus the seal of God.
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