French President Nicolas Sarkozy was so delighted to welcome Pope Benedict recently that he broke with tradition and made the trip to Orly airport in order to be in attendance as the Pontiff's red shoe touched down on French soil. At Sarkozy's side was Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, minus her guitar.
Pope Benedict arrived in France on a mission. A primary objective was to address the touchy subject of state-church relations. The opening to engage in this discussion has been provided by Sarkozy who has been making a big deal about calling for a more flexible approach to laïcité - the traditionally rigid separation of church and state in France.
Sarkozy has taken to speaking of "positive secularism" which really is a misnomer, because secularism correctly understood is neutral. Agnès Poirier makes that point in her New Statesman' article - "The Pope's Plot":
Pope Benedict arrived in France on a mission. A primary objective was to address the touchy subject of state-church relations. The opening to engage in this discussion has been provided by Sarkozy who has been making a big deal about calling for a more flexible approach to laïcité - the traditionally rigid separation of church and state in France.
Sarkozy has taken to speaking of "positive secularism" which really is a misnomer, because secularism correctly understood is neutral. Agnès Poirier makes that point in her New Statesman' article - "The Pope's Plot":
What the Pope and president pretend not to know is that there is no positive or negative secularism (laïcité in French). Secularism is neutral. It is neither a dogma nor a doctrine. If anything, it's an abstention. Secularism abstains from fav ouring one religion over another, or favouring atheism over religious belief. It is a political principle that aims at guaranteeing the largest possible coexistence of various freedoms.
When Sarkozy gave a speech praising the benefits of a secularism "more open to religions", the Pope commended him for his "expression of positive secularism". However the rather amorphous concept of "positive secularism" didn't originate with Sarkozy. As Poirer points out:
According to the political scientist Caroline Fourest, author of a recent book on the Catholic Church, the sympathy between the Pope and the French president shouldn't be surprising. Their "new idea" is a Trojan horse. The term "positive secularism" was actually coined in 2005 by the then Cardinal Ratzinger, whose views have inspired two of President Sarkozy's close aides and speechwriters, the practising Catholic Emmanuelle Mignon and the Dominican friar Philippe Verdin.
Not everyone was as delighted about the Pope's visit as Sarkozy, who apparently was keen to attend almost every important event during Benedict's French visit. Socialist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon accurately pointed out that the Pope and Sarkozy have "a common political goal" that casts doubt on the "laïcité of our Republic."
The satirical magazines Le Canard and Charlie Hebdo took a few satirical shots. Le Canard informed its readers that Benedict had been listed in the controversial new police registry known as Edvige. Charlie Hebdo had a long editorial denouncing the Church along with anti-Pope petitions and protest info.
The satirical magazines Le Canard and Charlie Hebdo took a few satirical shots. Le Canard informed its readers that Benedict had been listed in the controversial new police registry known as Edvige. Charlie Hebdo had a long editorial denouncing the Church along with anti-Pope petitions and protest info.
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