Germany’s Protestant Church (EKD) told Funke Media Group in a comment posted on Sunday.
An EKD spokeswoman told DPA: “The number of requests in many places has increased significantly due to the increased pressure on deportation, while some requirements are more than four times the request.”
For decades, churches in Germany have provided temporary shelter to evade persecution, discrimination, torture and even death.
Many asylum seekers who are asked to leave Germany for asylum in churches in order to wait for their departure deadline. In the church, they were unable to reach the police.
An EKD spokeswoman said the church had no central records of asylum cases and national statistics on individual parish applications.
EKD estimates are based on selective feedback from churches in various regions.
The spokeswoman said that because of the high demand, church asylum cannot be granted and people are not protected.
Dietlind Jochims, president of the Universal Federal Church Asylum Association, also told Funke Media Group that fears among people with uncertain living conditions in Germany have led to a sharp rise in church protection requests.
According to the German Federal Office for Immigration and Refugees, Protestant, Catholic and Independent Churches recorded 617 church shelters in the first quarter of 2025.
In the same period last year, there were 604 cases, with a total of 2,386 cases in all 2024.
