God may have rested on the seventh day, but from now on even the Italians will take their weekly break on whatever day of the week suits their employer best. At least that is the gloomy interpretation many here are putting on the latest European Union working time directive, and they are hopping mad.

The new decree from Brussels says workers are entitled to take 24 hours off every seven days. But unlike the directive of 1993, which it supersedes, it does not mention Sunday.

Now sections of the clergy fear that, under pressure from Brussels, Italy is sliding in the godless direction of northern countries such as Britain, with obvious consequences for church attendance.

"Sunday is at the heart of Christian, Italian and European traditions," fumed Cardinal Pio Laghi. "It cannot be reduced to purely economic considerations."

The Bishop of Locri-Gerace, Giancarlo Bregantini, said: "Something must be done if we want to save Sundays. Its special status has already been undermined. The sensible alternation between work and rest has been lost, and if we lose the sabbath as well it would be a disaster."

On Sundays in Italy tourist cafés open and some profit-minded supermarkets bully their staff into working, but most shops and businesses remain barred and shuttered.

The Sunday issue has suddenly caught fire because the EU is cracking down on the Italian government's failure, alone of member states, to implement the 1993 working time directive and many others issued since.