Benedict on a Ball

The ultra-right political views of the Lefebvrists were not unknown to church leaders who offered to lift the excommunication. Lefebvre had spoken despairingly of how the Allied liberation of France from the Nazis represented "the victory of Freemasonry against the Catholic order of [Vichy leader Marshal] Petain," and his movement had given sanctuary to the fugitive French collaborator Paul Touvier, who was arrested in the society's priory in Nice in 1989. Touvier was charged and convicted of ordering the assassination of seven Jews in Lyon in 1944 as well as other crimes against humanity. A priest of the order sat beside him during his trial as his spiritual advisor. Lefebvre supported the Front National Party of Jean-Marie Le Pen, claiming the support was based on Le Pen's opposition to abortion.

Ratzi, Ratzi, Ratzi...