France wants to abolish a Catholic organisation; here is why

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin recently announced his plan to “disband” the group, as he believes it to be a far-right faction that supports anti-Semitism and its related groups, according to a report from RFI.

“They are apologists for anti-Semitism. They are big supporters of collaboration and Pétain. This does not, in our opinion, correspond to the values of the French Republic," Darmanin said to TV interviewers, which was published in RFI. The movements, Collaboration and Pétain involve groups that advocated German collaboration in World War II.

France wants to abolish Catholic lobby club

10-08-2023

Crusade

Darmanin also said in Le Parisian that the group remains a threat because it “legitimises physical violence and the use of weapons.” According to him, it accomplishes this by using terminology such as “crusade” and encouraging its adherents to “arm themselves.”

However, other government officials believe that Darmanin’s accusations of Academia Christiana may have been confused with another group called Civitas. However, Darmanin’s office stated that the two groups had separate dissolution procedures, where Civitas is closed. Academia Christiana now remains a second and separate procedure that has been handled by intelligence services.

Knife attack Annecy: you can’t kill innocent children in the name of Christ

12-06-2023

Festivals

Academia Christiana was founded in 2013 and provides Catholic youth with various training programmes in the fields of education, social issues, and sports. The organisation is led by Victor Aubert, a professor in French and philosophy at the Catholic-based Institute Croix des Vents in Sées.

Aubert first discovered the news of the dissolution when police raided his home at the beginning of December, according to European Conservative. In the presence of his frightened children, they handed him a letter from the Ministry of Interior. The Council of Ministers would proceed to disband his organisation in a matter of weeks.

Aubert emphasised that the organisation’s activities “include universities, training sessions, conferences, traditional festivals and folk dances,”and that authorities justify the dissolution of the organisation’s “incitement to hatred and discrimination on vague grounds,” he said.

Turkish voter sees Syrian refugee as an easy scapegoat

12-05-2023

Darmanin’s recent remarks have drawn criticism among right-leaning groups, especially within social media.

“The rule of law for Darmanin means not being able to expel jihadists, not shooting criminals who threaten the police, not dissolving the Young Guard, letting the Muslim Brotherhood prosper, but being able to dissolve peaceful associations by slamming fingers,” Éric Zemmour said in an X post. Zemmour is the leader of the right-wing Reconquête political party known as R!.

Second-class citizen

According to a recent press release by Academia Christiana, the organisation has agreed to go to court to appeal against this “absurd procedure”. The group also believes that the French government is now treating Catholics as “second-class citizens” and shutting down any ideas outside of “secularist and material ideology.”

“At a time when stabbings are flying morning, noon and evening, the priority of the Republic is to dissolve a training institute whose executives are all honest fathers and mothers,” the release said.