– Could you briefly describe the situation of the Civitas party in France?

Civitas – the only Catholic party in France – has been dissolved by a decree signed on 4 October on the initiative of the interior Minister and after calls made by the leader of La France Insoumise, a neo-Communist party. In a few days Civitas will be lodging an appeal with the Council of State to denounce this abuse of power.

– What reasons were given by the French Interior Ministry to justify the ban on Civitas? Has Civitas done what it is accused of? Are the criticisms accurate? In your view, why does the Interior Minister want to ban Civitas? In short, do you think that the Interior Minister wants to ban Civitas because he is disturbed by its adhesion to Catholic values?

The pretext given for the dissolution of the Catholic party Civitas is based on a comment of about 50 seconds made by a speaker who is an expert in geopolitical issues and who was invited to our summer school in late July. The comment, taken out of context, was wrongly described as anti-Semitic. And the speaker is not a member of Civitas. But this is just a pretext, a pretence. In the notification the Interior Ministry sent us, giving the reasons for the dissolution, and then in the dissolution decree itself, Civitas France is reproached with criticising the LGBT lobby, gender ideology, immigration from outside Europe, Freemasonry and Satanism. We are also criticised for defending “Christ’s kingship” over nations. So it really is because we defend traditional Catholic values that we have been targeted.

– In France, Civitas has the legal status of a political party. How is it possible for a party to be banned in France?

France, like all countries in the European Union, is a member of the Venice Commission, whose statutes state that political parties are a part of political life and that banning a party should be avoided at all costs and should be reserved for exceptional situations, such as when a party uses violence and threatens civil peace.

– Is Civitas a party seeking to take power by violent means or illegal methods? Is it an extremist party?

Of course not. Civitas France is a Catholic party. Catholics are not terrorists. We take part in political debate in a peaceful way, and we defend, as is our right, a Catholic and traditional vision of society, in which God, the family and the homeland are respected and promoted. It was on these foundations that Europe’s greatness was built.

– In France are there any openly extremist parties (Islamists, Communists) that the Interior Ministry has no problem with?

Yes, it’s paradoxical. In January 2023, members of parliament from the neo-Communist La France Insoumise party invited a Franco-Palestinian to the National Assembly, although he had been in prison in Israel for taking part in a terrorist attack on the former Chief Rabbi of Israel. The party’s members of parliament also refused to condemn the riots and looting that swept France for over two weeks this summer. The party wants to win over voters with origins from outside Europe and has flirted with communitarian Islamist demands. But none of this bothers the Interior Minister.

– In which countries is Civitas active as an association? Is it under attack or has it experienced problems elsewhere, like in France?

At present, along with France, Civitas is active in Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Lebanon. But we have received requests from other countries. Perhaps Poland, Slovenia and others will be joining us soon. We only have problems in France.

– What does it mean to say that Civitas is a Catholic party? What is Civitas’ programme based on? What are the aims of the movement? Does Civitas’ programme correspond to the challenges of our times? And if so, why? Why do you think that Catholic social teaching is the right approach for organising the State’s economic, social and political life?

Civitas’ programme is based on the Church’s traditional social and political doctrine. We are convinced that happiness for our peoples and our families is to be found in Christ. And we think that political, economic and social decisions should be taken in the light of theology, in order to seek the common good, the general interest, and not individual interests. Today, globalist politics prevail in European institutions and are leading to uprooting our peoples, to destroying family values and to social injustice. This is what we reject.

– Is Civitas an “anti-Semitic” party (in the usual sense of the term)?

No, Civitas is not anti-Semitic. We have no hatred for anyone. And certainly not because of anyone’s origins. Among our members and supporters there are people who converted from Judaism to Catholicism.

– If Civitas were in power in France, would everyone be forced to be a Catholic?

Of course not. A commitment to the Catholic faith must be voluntary and sincere. Catholicism does not use force to convert people.

– How does Civitas respond to the notion of the separation of Church and State, to the secular nature of the State?

In France, Civitas advocates ending the separation of Church and State and a return to the situation that existed in France until 1905. The aim, of course, is not to set up a theocracy but to understand that laws should be guided by respect for the traditional social and political doctrine of the Church. And we claim that it would also be beneficial for the vast majority of the population, including those from other religions, atheists or agnostics, but who share the respect most people have for the natural law.

– Do you think that the situation justifies the statement, quoting Donoso-Cortes, that France has all the characteristics of a dictatorship, even though it is called a republic? What proof is there of this?

Yes, since 1789 the republican regime has regularly taken tyrannical and anti-Christian measures. In 1793, the French republic ordered its army to massacre part of its own population, to drown Catholics in Nantes and to impale children with bayonets in Vendée. In 1905, the French republic sent in the army to expel the religious congregations. And today, in the different political parties, Freemasons are claiming we need to bring the French Revolution to completion and make secularism the new state “religion”.

And look at the violence used over the past ten years or so by the French republic against social protests by the Yellow Vest movement, for example, or demonstrators protesting against the pension reforms. The poorer the French people become and the more they try to hold their politicians to account, the more the French republic makes use of violence and censorship. It is obvious that French people today are far less free than they were 40 years ago