Fédération nationale catholique
Old badge of the Federation
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| Formation | 1924 |
|---|---|
| Extinction | 1944 |
| Type | Lobby group |
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Region served
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France |
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Official language
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French |
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President
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General Édouard de Curières de Castelnau |
The Fédération Nationale Catholique (FNC) (English: National Catholic Federation) was a French movement that was active in the 1920s and 1930s, with the purpose of defending the Catholic Church against secular trends in the governments of the time. The Federation was founded in 1924 in response to the election of a left-wing government with a secularist policy. After rapidly gaining members and staging large demonstrations, it soon achieved its goal of maintaining the status quo separation between church and state. The movement gradually lost momentum in the years that followed, although it remained in existence during the Vichy regime.
The anti-religious Cartel des Gauches (Left-wing coalition) won the 1924 French national elections and formed a government led by Édouard Herriot. Under pressure to launch an anti-clerical program, Herriot closed the Vatican embassy and passed legislation enforcing secular education in Alsace-Lorraine. In response General Édouard de Curières de Castelnau organized the Fédération Nationale Catholique to defend the church against the laicists.
The movement had little concern with the form of government, which could be a monarchy or a republic, but considered that all the evils of modern society resulted from the absence of God. Politics were viewed from a Catholic perspective. The Federation was supported by the church hierarchy in France.Jean Guiraud, head of the Associations Catholiques de Chefs de Famille, supported the Federation and advertised its meetings in his columns in La Croix. The right-wing Action Française gave the FNC much support in its defense of religious liberty.
In the Federation's official bulletin, le Point de direction, Castelnau hammered home the importance of unity of all Catholics. The first national congress was held in February 1925, by which time there were more than two million members. On 10 March 1925 the cardinals and archbishops of France published a declaration attacking "the so-called laws of secularism". The church leaders told their congregations to "declare war upon laicism and its principles" until the anti-Catholic laws were repealed.
The Federation held rallies and staged demonstrations, some with up to 100,000 participants. The movement gained its first martyrs on 9 February 1925 in Marseille, when armed gangs attacked a meeting of Federation members and two were killed. The victims were given an impressive funeral, which served to demonstrate the power of the movement and discourage further attempts at intimidation.
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