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4. The Jesuit movement in France before and during the 1939-1945 war

We have seen how the Catholic Action, with Leon Degrelle and his associates at the head, prepared the way for Hitler in the Belgium of “Christus Rex”. In France, the same undermining action was going on; it started when Mussolini came to power and ended up, in 1940, with the collapse of the national defence. As for Belgium, it was, so we are told, the “spiritual values” which had to be restored for the good of the country. The F.N.C.: “Federation nationale catholique” (National Catholic Federation) was born and placed under the presidency of General de Castelnau; as many as three million adherents joined it. The choice of its chief was clever: the general, a great military figure and, then, 78 years of age, covered with his personal prestige—but, of course, unknown to him—an intense clerico- fascist propaganda programme.

That the F.N.C, as the whole Catholic Action, was Jesuit through and through is obvious to anyone. But we know also that the good Fathers, whose besetting sin is pride, like to put their signature on the creations of their genius. This they did for the F.N.C. when they consecrated this Catholic army to the Sacred-Heart of Jesus, a worship set up by their Company and whose basilica stands on Montmartre hill, from where Ignatius of Loyola and his companions set off to conquer the world. A book concerning the F.N.C, whose foreword was written by the R.P. lanvier, preserved for posterity the act of consecration read “at the altar” by the old general. We will quote just a few phrases:

“Sacred Heart of Jesus, The chiefs and representatives of French Catholics, prostrating themselves now before you, have assembled and organised the National Catholic Federation (F.N.C.) to re-establish your reign over this land… All of us, those who are present and those who are absent, have not always been irreproachable… We carry the burden of the crimes the French nation committed against you… It is then with the view to repair and expiate that we present to you, today, our desires, intentions and unanimous resolution to re-establish over the whole of France your sacred and royal sovereignty, and liberate the souls of her children from a sacriligious teaching… We will not flinch any more before this fight for which you condescended to arm us. We want everything to be bent before and devoted to your service…

“Sacred Heart of Jesus, we beseech you, through the Virgin Mary, to receive the homage… “etc”.(94)

As for the “crimes of the French nation”, the same Catholic author enumerates them: Fatal words and general directives: socialism is condemned… liberalism is condemned… Leo XIII showed that the freedom of worship is unjustifiable. The pope also showed that the freedom of speech and expression cannot be justifiably accorded… So, the freedom of thought, press, teaching and worship, considered by some as rights natural to man, cannot possibly be given…

“We must”, said Pius XI, “re-instate these teachings and regulations of the Church”.

Such is the main aim of the F.N.C., under the Hierarchy’s control assured by the decentralization of the diocesan Committees. “In the Catholic Action, as in the war, the famous word of General de Castelnau remains true: “Forward”.(95)

This is certainly clear and explicit. We know, then, what to expect when we read this, from Pius XI: “The Catholic Action is the faithful’s apostolate…” (Letter to Cardinal Van Roey, 15th of August 1929).

Strange apostolate, consisting of the rejection of all liberties valued by civilised countries and to be the patron of, instead of, of the totalitarian gospel! Is this “the right to communicate to other minds the treasures of Redemption”? (Pius XI, “Non abbiamo bisogno”).

In Belgium Leon Degrelle and his friends, heroes of the Catholic Action spread around them these “treasures of Redemption”… revised and up- dated by the Jesuit Father Staempfle, the discreet author of “Mein Kampf”.

It was the same in France where lay apostles, “joining in the activity of the hierarchical apostolate” (Pius XI “dixit”), were busy setting up another “collaboration”. Let us read what Franz von Papen, the pope’s secret chamberlain and the Fuhrer’s right hand man, wrote concerning this subject:

“Our first meeting took place in 1927, when a German delegation, to which I had the honour to belong, came to Paris, for the “Social Week of the Catholic Institute”, under the presidency of Monseigneur Baudrillart.

(94) and (95) Georges Viance: “La Federation nationale catholique”, foreword by the R.P. Janvier (Flammarion, Paris 1930, pp. 186,187,188,78).

This was indeed a fruitful first contact as it marked the start of a long exchange of visits between important personalities from France and Germany.

“On the French side, the RR. PP. Delattre (Jesuit), de la Briere (Jesuit) and Denset (Jesuit)… were present at these conferences”.(96) Further on, the good apostle adds that, at times, “this conference of Catholics reached superhuman heights of greatness”.

This “greatness” reached its zenith on the 14th of June 1940, the day which saw the flag adorned with the swastika fly victoriously over Paris. We know that Goebbels, chief of hitlerian propaganda, indicated that date three months before, on the 14th of March, and that the German offensive was only launched on the 10th of May.

The accuracy of this forecast is not as astonishing as it may seem. “Here is the secret report of agent 654 J.56, working for the German Secret Service, who sent these revelations to Himmler: “Paris, 5th of July 1939. “I can declare that, in France, the situation is now in our hands. Everything is ready for J day and all our agents are at their posts. Within a few weeks, the police force and military system will collapse like a pack of cards”.

Many secret documents relate that the traitors had been chosen a long time before. Men like Luchaire, Bucard, Deat, Doriot… and Abel Bonnard (of the French Academy)”.(97)

(This particular one fled to Spain at the Liberation. He came back to France on the 1st of July 1958, gave himself up, but was immediately released on a temporary basis by the president of the High-Court of Justice!) The extremely well documented book of M. Andre Guerber gives details of payments allocated to these traitors by the German SR. This money was well and truly earned, for their work was very effective. Besides, the atmosphere had been prepared for a long time, now. To “regenerate” the land according to the wishes of the Catholic Action, a whole brood of apprentice-dictators, on the model of Leon Degrelle, had hatched, men like Deat, Bucard, Doriot who was—according to M. Andre Guerber—”agent No.56 BK of the German Secret Service”. Of all this motley band he was also the one best thought of by the archbishopric and those well-disposed towards them… and, of course, by Hitler who, later on at Sigmaringen, gave him full power. Doriot was the rising star; but, for the immediate future and to treat cautiously the transition after the foreseen and wanted defeat, another man was needed, a highly respected military chief who would be able to dress up the disaster and present it as a “national recovery”.

(96) Franz von Papen: “Memoires” (Flammarion, Paris 1953, p.91). (97) Andre Guerber: “Himmler et ses crimes” (Les Documents Nuit et Jour, Paris, 1981)

In 1936 already, Canon Coube wrote: “The Lord who brought forth Charlemagne and the heroes of the Crusades can still raise up saviours… Amongst us, there must be men whom He has marked with His seal and who will be revealed when his time has come… Amongst us, there must be men of the cloth who are the workmen in the great national restorations. But what are the necessary conditions they need to accomplish this mission? Natural qualities of intelligence and character; also supernatural qualities that is to say obedience to God and His Law is just as indispensable, as this political work is moral and religious before anything else. These saviours are men with generous hearts who work only for the glory of God…”(98)

When the disciple of Loyola expounded these political and religious thoughts, he knew who this pious “saviour” would be, as his name was not a secret amongst clerics and fascists; this is told us by M. Francois Ternand: “A clever and persistant propaganda campaign began in favour of a “Petain dictatorship”…

“In 1935, Gustave Herve published a pamphlet which we are going to examine… The tract is entitled “We need Petain”… its foreword is an enthusiastic apology of the “Italian recovery” and “the even more amazing recovery of Germany”, also an exaltation of the wonderful chiefs who were the authors of these recoveries. Now what about our own French people?… There is a man around whom we could gather… We also have a providential man… Do you want to know his name? It is Petain”.

“We need Petain”, for the homeland is in a dangerous position; and not only the homeland, but Catholicism also: “Christian civilisation is condemned to death if a dictatorial regime is not set up in every country”… “Listen: “In peace time, a regime can only be swept away by a coup d’Etat if it is willing or if it has no support from the army and administrations. The operation can be a success only through a war and especially a defeat”.(99) So, the path to follow was already made clear in 1935 to “re-christianise” France, the regime had to be swept away, and the best way to attain this was to suffer a military defeat which would place us under the German yoke. In 1943, this was confirmed by Pierre Laval, the pope’s count and president of the Vichy government:

“I hope Germany will be victorious. It may seem strange to hear the one who is defeated wish for the victor’s victory. It is because this war is not like previous ones. It is a true war of religion! Yes, a war of religion”.(100) (98) Canon Coube: “Sainte Therese de l’Enfant Jesus et les crises du temps present”, (Flammarion, Paris 1936, pp.165 ss). Imprimatur: 11th of January 1936.

(99) Francois Tenand: “L’Ascension politique du Marechal Petain”, (Ed. du livre francais, Paris 1946, pp.40 ss). (100) National Radio, 2nd of January 1943.

This indeed was what the Church wanted, even though unpleasant for the forgetful Jesuit Fessard, whom we mentioned earlier on, who doesn’t want to know any more what was said on the American radio for the 20 million listeners of the “Christian Front”, by his Loyolan brother Father Coughlin: “The German war is a battle for Christianity”.(101)

But during the same period, in occupied France, Cardinal Baudrillart, rector of the Catholic Institute in Paris, was saying the same thing. Listen to him:

“Hitler’s war is a noble enterprise undertaken for the defence of European culture”.(102)

So, on both sides of the Atlantic, as indeed all over the world, the clerical voices were singing the praises of victorious Nazism. In France, Cardinal Suhard, archbishop of Paris, set the example to all the episcopate by “collaborating” fully, and so did the Jesuit nuncio Monseigneur Valerio Valeri.

After the Liberation, the government asked the Vatican to recall no less than thirty bishops and archbishops who were deeply compromised. In the end, it consented to recall three of them.

“France has forgotten…”, wrote M. Maurice Nadeau. ‘La Croix’, the most dangerous mouthpiece at the service of collaboration, takes its place amongst the publications of a liberated France; the prelates who were urging the French youth to work for the victory of Germany have not been brought to trial”.(103)

One could read in “Artaban” of the 13th of December 1957:

“In 1944, ‘La Croix’ was prosecuted for having favoured the enemy and brought before the Court of Justice in Paris; the case was put in the hands of Judge Raoult who dismissed it. The affair was discussed at the Chamber, on the 13th of March 1946 (see J.O. Parliamentary Debates, pages 713-714) and it was learned, then, that M. de Menthon, minister for Justice and thorough at purging the French press, had spoken in favour of’La Croix’.

In fact, “the voice of pontifical thought”—as Pius XII called it, in 1942, when sending it his blessing—was the only one exempted from the general measures taken to suppress all the newspapers published during the occupation, even though, as ‘Artaban’ reminds us:

“‘La Croix’ received instructions from the German Lieutenant Sahm and, in Vichy, from Pierre Laval”.

Of course, the ‘pontifical thought’ and hitlerian instructions happily coincided. This is confirmed when we study the war-time editions of this estimable paper.

(101) 7th of July 1941. (102) 30th of July 1941. , (103) Foreword to “L’Eglise a-t-elle collabore”?, by Jean Cotereau (Spartacus, Paris, May 1946).

One of the Jesuits’ attributions, and not one of the least important, is to supervise all the Catholic press. In the various papers adapted to the need of their readers, they bring out, as necessary, the various shades of the ‘pontifical thought’ which, under its undulating aspects, nevertheless reaches implacably towards its aims. There is not one “Christian newspaper or periodical that does not enjoy the collaboration of some- discreet—Jesuits.

These Fathers who are “all things to all men” are of course the best at playing Chameleons. This they did, as we know, and, after the Liberation, we had the surprise to see coming up, everywhere, Fathers “who had belonged to the resistance” (they joined it later than others!), and who testified that the Church had NEVER NEVER “collaborated”.

Forgotten, abolished, evaporated were the articles of ‘La Croix’ and other Catholic newspapers, the episcopal mandates, the pastoral letters, the official communications from the Assembly of Cardinals and Archbishops, the exhortations of Cardinal Baudrillart calling on French youths to don the Nazi uniform and serve in the L.V.F. after having taken an oath of allegiance to Hitler! All this was past and forgotten!

“History is a novel”, said a disillusioned thinker. The one of our epoch will be true to this definition: the novel is being written under our eyes. Many ‘historians’ are contributing to it, well-disposed ecclesiastics and laymen, and we can be certain that the result will be edifying: a Catholic novel, of course. The Jesuits’ contribution is extensive, as worthy heirs of Father Loriquet whose “History of France” gave such a fanciful picture of Napoleon. Compared to this skilful feat, it was a simple matter to camouflage the collaboration between the clerics and the German occupier, from 1940 to 1944, and make it vanish. And this is still going on; over the years, so many articles have been written in newspapers, periodicals, books, under the patronage of the “Imprimatur”, to sing the praise of the misjudged super- patriots such as Suhard, Baudrillart, Duthoit, Auvity, Du Bois de la Villerabel, Mayol de Luppe, etc.! What a lot of pages blackened to exalt the attitude—so heroic—of the episcopate, during the war years in which France experienced “a situation which led the French bishops to become the “defenders of the city”!, as a wry joker wrote.(104)

“Slander, and slander again! there is bound to be something left”, advised Basile, this perfect type of Jesuit. “Whitewash, and whitewash again”, say his successors, great writers of “historical novels”. And this whitewashing is being carried out extensively.

(104) R.P. Deroo: “L’Episcopat francais dans la melee de son temps”, (Bonne Presse, Paris 1955, p. 103). Imprimatur 1955.

Future generations, submerged by a torrent of exaggerations, will devote a thankful thought—at least, we hope they will—to these “defenders” of the city, these heroes of the Roman Church and Homeland, “dressed with a candid honesty of white linen” by the work of their apologists; some of them were even canonised!

On the 25th of August 1944, the Jesuit Cardinal Suhard, archbishop of Paris (since the 11th of May 1940!) and leader of the clerical collaborators, imperturbably decided to celebrate the “Te Deum” of victory at Notre-Dame. We were spared this unseemly farce only through “the strong protest of the general chaplain of the F.F.I.”

We read in “France-Dimanche” of the 26th of December 1948: “His Eminence, Cardinal Suhard, archbishop of Paris, on the anniversary of his entering the priesthood has just received an autographic letter from His Holiness Pius XII who congratulates him, amongst other things, for the part he played during the occupation. We know that the cardinal’s behaviour during that period had been severely criticized after the Liberation. When General de Gaulle arrived back in Paris, in August 1944, he refused to meet the cardinal at the “Te Deum” in Notre-Dame. At that time, the prelate was openly accused of “collaborationist tendencies”.

The Holy-Father’s congratulations are then understandable. But there is another story of “Te Deum” even more edifying!:

After the allies disembarked, the city of Rennes suffered much in the fighting which followed, and many died amongst the civilian population as the commanding officer of the German garrison had refused to evacuate them. When the city was taken, the traditional “Te Deum” was going to be celebrated, but the archbishop and primate of Britany, Monseigneur Roques, absolutely refused, not only to officiate himself but also to allow this ceremony to take place in his cathedral. To thank Heaven for the liberation of his city was an intolerable scandal to the eyes of this prelate. Because of this attitude, he was confined to the archbishop’s residence by the French authorities.

Such loyalty to the “pontifical thought” called for an equivalent reward. It came from Rome, soon after, in the shape of a Cardinal’s hat. We can blame the late Pius XII with many things, but we must admit that he always “acknowledged his own”. A flattering letter to Cardinal Suhard, distinguished collaborator, the Cardinal’s purple for Monseigneur Roques, hero of the… German Resistance: this “great pope” was practising a strict distributive justice.

(105) ‘La Croix’, 10th of October 1958.

Of course, his entourage was of the kind which could advise him wisely: two German Jesuits, R.P. Leiber and R.P. Hentrich, “his two private secretaries and his favourites”.(105) His confessor was the German Jesuit Bea. Sister Pasqualina, a German nun, supervised his household and above all cooked for him. Even the canary, answering to the sweet name of “Dumpfaf”, had been imported from beyond the Rhine. But had not the Sovereign Pontiff told Ribbentrop, after Hitler invaded Poland, that “he would always have a special affection for Germany”?(106).

(106) We read in “Documentation catholique” of the 15th of March 1959: “As far as the very estimable German nation is concerned, we will follow the example given to us by our Predecessor (Pius XII), signed John XXIII. The spirit of continuity is one of the Vatican’s attributes.