“Mr. Pierre-Edouard Stérin and Mr. Vincent Bolloré, your betrayal of the message of Jesus is unacceptable for us Christians.”

Published on September 25, 2024 at 11:30 a.m.updated on September 25, 2024 at 11:36 a.m.

Around twenty Christian personalities are taking a stand against the hyperconservative aims that the two billionaires have in the name of the Catholic faith.

Mr. Stérin and Mr. Bolloré,

We can no longer bear to see you manipulate Christianity, a religion based on values ​​of unconditional welcome and love, to justify your discriminatory and reactionary vision of society. Faced with the dangers you represent for our country and our religion, we refuse to remain silent any longer.

Mr. Bolloré, in just a few years, you have managed to spread your political and religious ideology, notably thanks to your media empire which has terrible repercussions on our democratic life, on our society and on our Christian and Catholic community. Cnews, “le JDD”, or even Europe 1 have become tools to impose the themes dear to the most extreme right, while capturing the Christian electorate, and namely Catholic, by a crude seduction but which nevertheless seems to bear fruit: masses broadcast live, a program dedicated to the Christian faith, personalities claimed to be Catholics regularly invited…

Forty-two percent of practicing Catholics voted for a far-right candidate in the last European elections, compared to 18% in 2019. While this figure no longer seems to shock society, for us it is a source of sadness, disgust and anger.

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For some Catholics, those in search of identity, feeling marginalized in an increasingly atheist society that rejects religion, the place given to a certain “Catholicism” in your media seems to be sufficient reason to undermine the values ​​carried by the Gospels: sharing, solidarity, respect for difference, unconditional welcome of strangers, the fight against exclusion, love…

We consider that you have played a key role in the disappearance of the Catholic barrier against hate parties. Racist and Islamophobic words have been released in the mouths of many faithful, despite the fact that their incarnation of God remains a man whose life was dedicated to the fight against exclusion, contempt and rejection, before being unjustly crucified on a cross for love of humanity.

Faced with your insatiable appetite and your ideological project as dangerous as it is unfortunately effective, Mr. Bolloré, we thought we had enough to do. But for a few days now, we have discovered that another Catholic billionaire is trying to put his money and his vision of faith at the service of the accession to power of the extreme right.

We are obviously talking about you, Mr. Stérin. You who want to invest 150 million euros to make the extreme right win thanks to a sprawling project called “Pericles”. Some 3.5 million euros have already been distributed to beneficiaries committed in particular to “national preference”against “gender theory” or in favor of the “special place of Christianity”. Seeing Christianity invoked in this terrifying project of political propaganda disgusts and horrifies us. The objective of “Pericles” is clear: to offer 300 cities to the National Rally in 2026. The image of philanthropist that you wish to convey hardly masks an ultra-conservative strategy.

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To rebel against this situation

With the money that you both have, and an open-hearted reading of the Gospels, you could have fought against the great precariousness affecting many of our fellow citizens, set up rescues of exiles in the Mediterranean Sea, invested in our adrift public hospitals, actively participated in the ecological transition, in order to“to listen to both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” (encyclical “Laudato Si'” by Pope Francis). But you two have chosen to use your significant financial assets to fuel parties that are increasing divisions, racism and inequality in our society. Your betrayal and manipulation of the message of Jesus are unacceptable to us as Christians.

It is high time for Christians attached to evangelical values ​​to revolt against this situation and finally make our voices heard. As Christians, we cannot remain indifferent to any suffering of our brothers and sisters, whether they are of another religion, another origin, another sexual orientation… So let us unite and drive the merchants from the temple!

Signatories:

Olivier Perreta Catholic committed to social justice and against the trivialization of the extreme right in the Catholic community, co-founder of the Catholic collective PAIX (For an Unconditional Welcome in the Church), Christian TerrasCatholic and editor-in-chief of the weekly “Golias Hebdo”, Iris Serriereholder of a master’s degree in Catholic theology, co-secretary of the Ecologists of Aube, Samuel Grzybowskicommitted Christian, founder of Coexister and general director of CitéCoop, Jean-Michel Dunanda Catholic committed to the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, survivor of conversion therapy and member of the Catholic collective PAIX, Timothy of RauglaudreCatholic journalist and author, Manon Segurefiction writer, parishioner and member of the Catholic collective PAIX, Clemence CuttazCatholic and member of the office of the Jupe Committee, Nathanael Bancelevangelical Protestant, co-founder of Mauvaises Fois, Fred Pochéprofessor of contemporary philosophy, Catholic University of the West, Anne-Claire RuttenCatholic and member of the Christian Entrepreneurs and Managers movement and the Catholic collective PAIX, Marie-Pierre Scanellaa Catholic committed to the love of one’s neighbor and a member of the Catholic collective PAIX, Mathias Marcillouxa Catholic Christian, involved in the Struggle and Contemplation collective, Benoit HenriquesCatholic member of the TCHAAP network, Jeremiah ClayesProtestant founder of the podcast Hérétique, the podcast that questions and deconstructs our religious beliefs, Sandre Laurydaily commitment in the church and society centered on a Christian anarchist mysticism inspired by the reading of the gospels, Laurent GrzybowskiCatholic journalist and author. Interreligious dialogue activist, Amber Guillouxcoexisting Christian, Francois Mandila Catholic involved in scouting, Epheusa Catholic Christianarchist personality and founder of the exchange platform l’Aventure chrétienne, Ruben Eudeline-JangCatholic and altar server.