In ecclesiastical parlance this is called a reprimand. Like at school. In common language, this is similar to a warning addressed to an employee. Pastor of the Saint-Roch church, located in the center of the capital, Father Thierry Laurent, adept at masses in Latin and wearing a cassock, was slapped on the knuckles by the authorities of the diocese of Paris . Who did not appreciate the ceremony which took place on November 16 at noon in the parish. almost clandestinely, as told Release, Father Laurent, close to circles of the extreme Catholic right, had celebrated a mass that day “for the rest of the soulby the anti-Semitic and royalist essayist Charles Maurraswhose nostalgic fans were commemorating the 70th anniversary of his death.
In front of regarding forty people, the ceremony took place in the nave of the church, rather known until now to be the parish of artists and which has recently become, under the aegis of Thierry Laurent, one of the rallying points of the Catholic extreme right in the capital. In his parish bulletin, published on January 1, the priest made public, as his hierarchy had asked him, the letter of reprimand he received in December following the celebration of this mass.
Many outraged worshipers
According to the Archdiocese of Paris, this one had, in spite of the denials of the Abbé Laurent, “inappropriate and provocative political content”. Vicar General Michel Gueguen, one of the close assistants of Laurent Ulrich, the Archbishop of Paris, adds in the letter that this was not “worthy of the office of teaching and sanctifying the Christian people”. According to the diocese of Paris, the mass celebrated in memory of Maurras aroused “the legitimate astonishment of many faithful and was for many the occasion of scandal”. During the mass, the traditional priest had also delivered a homily praising the thought and the journey of the thought leader of the extreme right whose vision finds, in particular around Eric Zemmour, a new youth.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Action française and several books by Charles Maurras suffered the wrath of the Vatican. In 1926, Pope Pius XI duly condemned the movement, and Catholics who remained members of it were barred from religious funerals until the dawn of World War II.
An embarrassing case
A former Action Française militant, Abbé Laurent is called upon by his superiors to be more discreet and more cautious with his past and present political commitments. In his letter of reprimand, Vicar General Michel Gueguen expresses his “strongest disapproval” and the “summoned to correct his attitude”. Otherwise ? In the event of a recurrence, the priest of Saint-Roch, warns the diocese of Paris, might be the subject of a canonical procedure, according to the internal law of the Catholic Church. In post in this parish since 2017, Father Laurent might be transferred next summer, the priests generally being changed assignments every six years. According to sources inside the Catholic Church, the priest would however be an embarrassing case for the religious authorities.
A few weeks before the Christmas celebrations, tags smeared the facade of the Saint-Roch church, crudely denouncing the attitude of the priest. A complaint was filed by parish officials following this degradation. On social networks, sites and personalities of the Catholic far right have accused Release to be responsible for these tags for having published an article telling this secret mass in memory of Maurras.