The French president Nicolas Sarkozy, honourary canon of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, has sent a message of congratulations to four Catholic traditionalist deacons who were ordained Saturday, it was revealed on Monday, February 24 by the religious information agency, I. Media.
This message was read at the end of the ordination ceremony of four deacons - two French, an Italian and a Polish - by Father Philippe Laguérie, superior of the traditionalist Institute of the Good Shepherd, said a witness to AFP.
[...]
France is one of the bastions of Lefebvrists celebrating the Mass in Latin, called "Tridentine", and who reject the teachings of the Second Vatican Council on religious freedom and inter-religious dialogue.
Prior to being reinstated to the Catholic Church with the Institute of the Good Shepherd, Father Laguérie was from 1984 to 1997 the priest of the Church of St. Nicolas du Chardonnet in Paris, occupied illegally by the integrists since 1977.
Nicolas Sarkozy had moved last December 20 in Rome to receive the title of honourary canon of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the pope, a purely honourary distinction given to kings and presidents of France since Henri IV in the 17th century.
The speech he made on that occasion led to a wave of shock in France. Nicolas Sarkozy has exalted the "Christian roots of France" and spoke of "the suffering" among Catholics caused by the implementation of the introduction of secularism with the 1905 law. (AFP)
Source: Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed the ordinations of four traditionalists at Saint John Lateran (via Le Forum Catholique)
