Fédération nationale catholique
The Fédération nationale catholique ("National Catholic Federation", FNC) was a lay Catholic movement in France. After a few predecessor organizations in Lorraine at the beginning of the 1920s, it was founded in 1925 by General Noël de Castelnau and existed until the beginning of the Vichy regime in 1940.
history
After the resignation of the left-wing head of government Édouard Herriot in April 1925, Castelnau, general in World War I, founded the FNC. The aim of the organization was to build a movement “in the interests of the Catholic religion, the family, society and the national cultural heritage”. She fought against the laicism that was promoted by the left- wing coalition of the Parti radical and the French section of the Workers International . She described secularism as "the capital error that denies religion and divine law any place in legislation and public life."
The time of the founding initially turned out to be favorable for building up a powerful, nationwide Catholic movement. In less than a year the organization grew to over a million members, most of whom came from Alsace and Lorraine, western France and the Massif Central . The movement received support from Pope Pius XI. She monitored parliamentary life and published the voting behavior of MPs in the press, especially in areas such as upbringing, family and religious freedom.
Castelnau represented vehement anti-communism and at the same time fought against Freemasonry , racism and anti-Semitism . The FNC was more moderate than the papal condemned française action , but less democratic than the addressed to Catholic labor movement Le Sillon of Marc Sangnier . In the course of the 1930s, the FNC increasingly lost its influence and was able to hold out until the early summer of 1940. On June 17, 1940, a few days before the armistice with Germany was signed , Castelnau wrote to his son: “I am completely broken. God punishes us severely for the terrible evil wrought by the French Revolution. France has denied its past and did not want to fight ... "
literature
- Corinne Bonafoux-Verrax: À la droite de Dieu. La Fédération nationale catholique, 1924–1944 . Fayard, Paris 2004. 658 pages.