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France: FN members unwelcome in church

01 November 1998

Front National (FN) activist, Joel David, has been refused baptism by Monseigneur Albert Rouet, bishop of Poitiers. The bishop's opinion is that the racial policies of the FN are contrary to the values of Christianity and that if David wishes to be baptised, he will have to choose between his faith and his racist political beliefs. Msgr Rouet's stance has unfortunately not received the unambiguous support it merits within the French Catholic establishment. Msgr Bille, president of the French Conference of Bishops, stated that every French Catholic was free to belong to the party of their choosing, although he accepted that individual bishops may find aspects of certain political commitments incompatible with access to communion. Abbe Bouchacourt, a Lefebvriste priest, challenged Rouet, and those who would support his stance, to state how the FN is in breach of the ten commandments, adding explicitly that "There is nothing in the catechism which forbids national preference", the ensemble of the FN's racist policies towards immigrants. Demonstrating a more enlightened perspective than Abbe Bouchacourt and Msgr. Bille, French bishops meeting at their annual assembly in Lourdes adopted a document resolutely welcoming Islam and seeking to ward off hostility towards France's second religion. It stressed that religious pluralism was not only an irreversible fact but was something which enriched the community. It further demanded equal rights for Moslems and Christians to practice their faith. Outside the meeting a small group of FN activists gathered to demand a dialogue with the bishops.

Independent 26.11.98; Le Monde 10.11.98.