"NOUS NE LAISSERONS PAS FAIRE…!"

babu Gogineni

When I was to meet for the first-time Mme. Monique Wonner, member of the IHEU-UNESCO delegation, to recognise each other, we agreed upon a code which reflected the mood of many Parisians. She carried a banner "No, we do not want the Pope here!" and I another with the words "I don't either…!".

When Jean Paul II arrived on 20 August to inaugurate the Roman Catholic Church-sponsored 12th World Youth Days festival, Paris was teeming with young uniformed volunteers, the city plastered with posters cleverly depicting the Eiffel Tower as a cross…More than half a million Catholic youth had descended on Paris to attend the week of morning prayers, musical performances and workshops on third world development and to do some tourism. Travelling in his trade-mark Papamobile, the ailing Pope himself had a busy schedule. Beatification of 19 century social activist Frederic Ozanam at the Notre Dame de Paris, ‘private' visit to the grave of Jerome Lejeune (discoverer of the chromosome linked to Down's syndrome) founder of commando groups which occupy abortion clinics and hospitals, and mass at the Paris Long Champ race course. In a show of solidarity, the pilgrims joined hands to form a 20 mile long "chain of brotherhood" around the city and draped the steps of the futuristic Arche de la Defense with the words "Let's put our colours together", written in 50 languages. In Paris, the Pope also met France's Protestant, Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, as well as the country's Roman Catholic President Jacques Chirac. Ignoring France's 1905 Constitutional Separation of Church and State, breaking with protocol on the Pontiff's private visit, Chirac met the Pope at the airport and received him at the Elysée Palace, where he said reverentially to the religious leader "For many of today's youth, who are waiting for answers, you are a guide and a reference".

Of course, it was not universal welcome for Jean paul II: in view of the RC Church's opposition to condoms and safe sex, the environmental group Chiche distributed ‘holy condoms' (after all, the clergy invented them!); gay groups highlighted the Church's homophobia, and France's ruling Socialist party strongly denounced his visit to Lejeune's grave as a provocation and an interference into France's domestic affairs, where abortion has been legal since 1975. Already, three Parisian hospitals had been occupied by anti-abortion commando groups encouraged by the Pope's initiative; more such attacks were feared. There was also consternation at the choice of date for Mass; Sunday 24 August being the Anniversary of Saint Barthelomew's day when, in 1572, the Catholics sponsored the massacre of thousands of Protestants. Conducting mass with a million faithful in attendance(more foreigners than French!) all that Jean Paul II could say was "Christians did things which the Gospel condemns."

At this same time, in Northern Paris, over 2000 secularists attended the International Secularist Meet on the theme Towards a Humanist and Secular 21st Century, sponsored by The World Union of Freethinkers, European Humanist Federation, World union of Atheists and the European Centre for Democratic and Secular Initiative (CAEDEL). This was good occasion to recall the Vatican's past and present complicity in crimes against humanity: the call of Cardinal Innitzer for giving unreserved support to the Great German State and to the Fuhrer, the abetting of Mussolini by Pope Pius XI who commanded all Catholics and the Catholic Parties to support the Duce, and the latest scandal of alleged use by the Vatican of gold plundered from Holocaust victims in Yugoslavia during the Second World War to smuggle war criminals into Latin America and the Middle East were all evoked. Joachim Salamero, President of the French Freethinkers (La Libre Pensée française) pointed out how the French Public Sector Companies fell head over heels to put their resources at the disposal of an essentially religious meeting, regretted that while thousands of the Church's invitees had received preferential treatment and waiver of regulations from visa authorities, Zephryn Razafimanjary, President of the Freethinkers of Madagascar was denied a visa to participate in the Secularist gathering. He warned against the second evangelisation of Europe and reminded the religious right of the secularists' own strength, successfully demonstrated in 1995 when several thousands of French marched the streets of Paris despite a crippling national strike to strengthen the separation of Church and State. Salamero set the tone of the meeting with a clarion "Nous ne laisserons pas faire…"

Secretary General of the Libre Pensée française Christian Eyschen in a rousing speech pointed out that the Vatican has never ratified any Human Rights instruments, the Pope heads a non-democratic theocratic state which is as condemnable as the theocracies in Teheran or Jerusalem and that in according the welcome that France reserved for the Pope, it should be recognised that this was a welcome to a dictator...The Catholic Church in France ought to decide once and for all, what it wants to be: either operate under the law of 1901 which regulates public associations which are eligible to receive state funding or operate under the law of 1905 which lays down a strict separation of Church and State, allows tax exemptions for proceeds from religious buildings, but also prohibits religious organisations from receiving public funding. What the Catholic Church now wants to do is to receive public funding, also retain its property and avoid paying taxes in both the cases.

Claude Wachtelaer, Secretary general of EHF spoke to the skeptic audience of the humanist approach which has been to essentially recognise and take advantage of the possibilities that the European Union offered for Humanist activities, if we wished to project ourselves as a life-stance organisation.

The situation in the Netherlands (Rob Tielman), Gabon (Jean-Pierre Omanda), Germany, Belgium and Italy was also reported to the meeting. There was near consensus at the meeting that a Humanist and Secular XXI Century can be built only on an earth which has rid itself of war, of ignorance and superstition economic and religious exploitation.

By Sunday 24 August, said mass at the Longchamp Race Course attended by a million people, made and met the Roman Catholic French President

Next meeting will be in Rome.

Trademark Popemobile

World Youth days events ran up a 3 million £ deficit; Sunday's mass attracted a million people, but only 200000£ went into the collection box

"Nous ne laisserons pas faire…"

Prof. Salamero, President of La Libre Pensee, the French Branch of Freethinkers gave a clarion call If fascism falls, God's cause goes with it – Cardinal Hinsley of Westminster 1935

The priests and Catholic folk must give their unreserved support to the great German State and to the Fuhrer – cardinal Innitzer of Vienna, 1938

Adolph Hitler is an envoy of God – RC Archbishop Stepinac of Zagreb 1941

This support tacitly and or overtly continued till 1944 when the axis powers foundered

Youth at what age? Upto 35?

L'evenement du jeudi

Created a 22 mile human chain around paris intra-muros

On the last day, good bet, The Pope addressed a meet at 's meet at the Longchamp racecourse; a gamble; but will the gambl pay off?

France always set itself up as a protector of Roman Catholicism in its colonies, even at its anti-clerical strongest.

Even the Christian paper La Croix's poll reported 65% of young french saying religion had little or no importance in their lives.

Four million in Manila

The French Ruling socialists condemned a decision by John Paul ii to say prayers at the grave of

Pope accused of provocation by the socialists

And one could not but sympathise with the representative of the Italian Giordano representatives who have to put up with him (they has their office facing the Vatican provocatively)