The tide of political change has reached France. François Fillon, nominated as the Republicans’ presidential candidate on Sunday, was the outsider, a radical Thatcherite candidate who did not seem to stand a chance until a couple of weeks ago.
In response to his victory, the French left-wing paper Libération published a front page with the headline “Help, Jesus is back!” (Au secours, Jesus révient!) and a rosary forming the shape of France. That is because, for many commentators, Catholics are at the centre of this transformation. Fillon is not just a Catholic, but a Catholic who knows “the flesh and blood” of conservative Catholicism, according to one observer.
Fillon was born in Le Mans, western France, near the Benedictine St Peter’s Abbey, Solesmes, established more than 1,000 years ago and a shrine for Catholics in the rural west. He still attends Mass there.
So why are Catholics seen as crucial to his nomination? Why is his sympathetic understanding of conservative Catholicism such an advantage in a society that can be brutally secular?
The reason, in short, is Manif pour Tous. Back in 2013 the group mobilised a million people to march on the streets of Paris and Lyon in protest against the proposed introduction of same-sex marriage.
According to journalist Pierre Jova, Manif pour Tous revolutionised French politics. “Manif pour Tous launched a deep Conservative revolution throughout the country,” he says. “Many young people had a first and very intense experience as political activists with Manif pour Tous. Among Catholics, everybody knows someone who participated in it.”
As well as mobilising Catholics around a common political interest, Manif pour Tous was a huge confidence boost for voters who felt increasingly alienated by the political establishment.
Furthermore, the presence of passionate young protestors gave Catholic activism the facelift it required to woo political supporters.
“The success of the protests shows that French Catholicism is still alive,” says Pierre Jova. “It shows also the tremendous disconnection between liberal France, in urban areas, in the media, in political parties, and a deep France, which is not necessarily right-wing, but which sees gay marriage, at best, as a device for a rich urban elite, at worst as something disturbing. Moral values such as family and solidarity became more trendy in France after the Manif pour Tous.”
Manif pour Tous evolved into the political movement “Common Sense”. It is this group, which has tens of thousands of members, that is credited with turning Fillon from underdog to leading candidate.
Common Sense, started in 2014, was led by Arnaud Bouthéon and Madeleine Bazin de Jessey, former leaders of Manif pour Tous. They convinced the conservative Republicans of the need to address pressing Catholic concerns such as gay marriage and religious freedom. Meanwhile, right-wing candidates across France won big cities in the local council elections that year with the help of Manif pour Tous supporters.
The tide was beginning to turn and Fillon, it seems, was astute enough to recognise this when his political rivals did not. After all, Nicolas Sarkozy was Common Sense’s preferred candidate at first, but when he abandoned a pledge on gay marriage the group felt betrayed and dropped him. Supporters were left with a choice between Alain Juppé, a self-professed “agnostic Catholic”, or Fillon, a churchgoer and father of five.
Fillon’s ability to persuade Common Sense that he understood Catholic concerns proved pivotal to his rise – so much so that Pierre Jova believes that “without the grassroots activists of Common Sense, François Fillon would never receive the support of the voters.”
Fillon achieved this support without attending any Manif pour Tous rallies and without bold pledges such as the scrapping of same-sex marriage. But he has reassured Catholics by stating his personal opposition to abortion along with plans to tighten the rules surrounding gay couples adopting children. He has also shown solidarity with persecuted Christians, visiting refugee camps in Iraq and attending Mass with them, sending an auspicious signal regarding his commitment to religious freedom.
Fears about Christian persecution and Islamic extremism are raw for Catholics in France ever since the shocking murder of Fr Jacques Hamel, leading some of the faithful to flirt with the far-right party, the Front National (FN).
Pierre Jova explains that the FN can be divided into two sections. One is secular and anti-Islamic, led by Marine Le Pen; the other is led by her niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, who is Catholic and keen to win the support of the faithful. For Maréchal-Le Pen’s faction, Fillon’s success is a setback. However, says Jova, “the fear of Islam, after Fr Jacques Hamel’s martyrdom, is still big. This is the main tool of the National Front to try to attract the Catholic vote in the presidential campaign.”
Time will tell if fear of Islamic extremism, in a country wracked by terrorism, may push Catholics further towards Le Pen, or if they will stick with the more mainstream figure of Fillon.
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