During
a gathering of the press in France on November 14, 1989, Archbishop
Lefebvre was accused of affirming that “the best [thing] for
the Moslems [to do] would be to go back home.” He added that,
in France, the Moslems are going “to impose their laws little
by little. Christian law cannot be in accord with Islamic law...
Moslems cannot be Catholic, they cannot be truly French. We must
not allow them to organize themselves politically or religiously.
The construction of mosques is a catastrophe!” Turning towards
the journalists, His Grace added: “It will be your wives, your
daughters, your children, who will be kidnapped and taken away
to hidden living quarters in Casablanca.” The International League
Against Racism and Anti‑Semitism (the LICRA ‑ The
French equivalent of the American Civil Liberties Union) brought
a civil lawsuit against Archbishop Lefebvre, accusing him of racism
and defamation with respect to the Moslem community. At the conclusion
of the trial, His Grace was cleared of the charge of racism but,
as if making a gesture of compromise, he was found guilty of defamation
with respect to the Moslem community and fined 5,000 French francs($1,010.).
Archbishop Lefebvre has, of course, appealed this iniquitous judgment!
He has only to prove that what he said about the kidnapping of
white girls for the harems of the Moslems is true. Since this
is a public fact there is no defamation whatsoever with respect
to the Moslems. On the contrary, it is an extraordinary scandal
and a fact which must be published so that people will realize
that we are in the midst of a giant struggle between the true
religion and Mohammed’s substitute, Islam. It is in the midst
of the threat of a Middle Eastern war that we realize who are
the true enemies of the Catholic and European civilization, of
which we are the heirs
Declaration
Preliminary to the Court Case of June 21, 1990
Sirs,
Invoking
the laws of July 29, 1981, and July 1, 1977, 1 am accused firstly
of the crime of provocation to discrimination, to hatred or to racial
violence with respect to a group of persons on account of their
origin or their belonging to a particular ethnic group, nation,
race or religion.
Secondly,
of the crime of public defamation with respect to this group...
I am supposed to have pronounced these provocative and defamatory
words when I held a press conference at the Crillon Hotel on November
14, 1989. I affirm firstly that I did not hold a press conference.
I had nothing written and I made no declaration. I only wanted to
reply to the journalists’ questions on the occasion of the ceremony
for the 60th anniversary of my Priestly Ordination at the Bourget.
You
must admit that Moslem immigration had no special reason to be brought
up on this occasion. The least one can say is that my reply was
not pre‑meditated. I therefore replied very freely, giving
my opinion of the danger of Islamic penetration into a country whose
Catholic religion is violently rejected and despised by Islam. The
Koran, which is the law of Islam, provokes to discrimination, to
hatred and to violence. Do not attribute to me that which I denounce.
The
proofs of this hatred and of this violence are legion both in the
past and in the present.
For
as long as Moslems are an insignificant minority in a Christian
country they can live in a friendly way, because they follow the
laws and customs of the country which accepts them. But as soon
as they are numerous and organized they become aggressive and they
seek to impose their laws, which are hostile to European civilization.
Examples are abundant. Soon they will take charge of our city councils,
and will transform our churches into mosques. We will either have
to become Moslem, leave the country or become their captives. This
is in the profound nature of Islam. It is not I who am racist
in denouncing this very racism.
The
pretended defamation is only the statement of obvious facts. Kidnapping
of white girls is well known to the police and it still exists today.
It is not defamation to denounce the kidnappers of our compatriots.
It is to call upon justice and demand the protection of our fellow
citizens. If you prevent us from crying out against the nefarious
consequences of Islam’s penetration of France and Europe, you render
yourselves accomplices to the violence committed in the name of
the Koran by Islam in our Christian countries. It is they who have
undertaken this procedure against us, a procedure which truly shows
the fundamental racism of Islam against the French, against the
Jews and against every religion which is not Moslem.
It
is not I who am racist because I denounce racism. I lived all my
life in the midst of other races ‑ thirty years in Africa,
among animists and Moslems. There I strove to bring them both spiritual
and material goods ‑ schools, hospitals, etc. They showed
their gratitude in decorating me as Officer of the Equatorial Star
of Gabon and Grand Officer of the National Order of Senegal, and
the French government recognized my overseas services by making
me Officer of the Legion of Honor.
To
condemn me as a racist because I seek to protect my country which
is menaced in its very existence and Christian traditions... this
would be to use justice for injustice. This would be the justice
at the service of executioners whose victims have at most the right
to keep quiet and to perish. This would be the summit of injustice.
†
Marcel Lefebvre
Ecône
May
12, 1990
Courtesy of the Angelus
Press, Regina Coeli House
2918 Tracy Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64109
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