After meeting stiff resistance for decades, the French National Front is now gaining ground among Catholics.
For years, commentators had spoken of a “Catholic exception”: the faithful had seemed notably hostile to the party compared with other social groups. But in last December’s regional elections, Catholics voted for the National Front in proportionately greater numbers than the rest of the population (32 per cent compared with 28.4 per cent, according to the pollsters IFOP).
This was a huge surprise. Historically, the National Front has been weakest in strongly Catholic areas such as Brittany and western France. Not only that: Marine Le Pen, party leader since 2011, has taken a hardline view of laïcité, the state ethos of secularism. “Priests should stay in the sacristy,” she told the Christian weekly La Vie, indicating that she saw no role whatsoever for clergy in public life. The Church, in contrast, has promoted a softer form of laïcité, encouraging believers to express their faith in the political arena.
