Cité catholique
Encyclopedia
The Cité Catholique is a Traditionalist Catholic
organisation created in 1946 by Jean Ousset
, originally a follower of Charles Maurras
(founder of the monarchist Action française
in 1899) and Jean Masson (1910-1965), not to be confused (as F. Venner did) with Jacques Desoubrie
, who also used the pseudonym Jean Masson . Despite the presence of Roman Catholic clergy in some of its meetings, the Cité catholique is not officially recognised by the Roman Catholic Church
.
It first took the name of Oeuvres de la Cité Catholique (Works of the Catholic City) and then of Office international des Oeuvres de formation civique et d'action culturelle selon le droit national chrétien (ICTUS, International Office of Works of Civic Formation and Cultural Action According to National Christian Law) before being known under the name Cité Catholique . It is now presided by Jacques Tremollet de Villers
, a former associate of the far-right politician Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour
and former defence attorney for accused war criminal Paul Touvier
.. The Cité catholique also helped found in 1971 the pro-life
NGO Laissez-les-vivre . Jean-Paul Bolufer, a former alumni of the ENA
and who was the chief of staff of Christine Boutin
, Minister of Housing and the City, before being forced to resign, and close to the Opus Dei
, was trained by Cité catholique .
which deposed Juan Perón
in 1955 . The Cité Catholique brought to Argentina a doctrine of counter-revolutionary warfare and torture
, justified as part of Thomist
dogmatism. They would thus provide the ideological support of the future "Dirty war
" carried out by the Argentine military in the 1970s .
Many members of the group had taken part in the pro-"French Algeria" OAS terrorist group created in Madrid, and which attempted to block the implementation of the March 1962 Evian Accords
and also tried several times to assassinate General Charles de Gaulle
, whom the French far-right felt had deceived them. Following the dismantlement of the OAS and execution of some of its members, the OAS chaplain
, Fr. Georges Grasset, organised the flight of OAS members, from a route going from Paris to Franquist Spain and finally to Argentina . Grasset arrived in 1962 in Buenos Aires to take charge of the Argentine branch of the Cité Catholique
Charles Lacheroy
, a member of this group, was the first person to reflect on the reasons behind the 1954 French defeat at Dien Bien Phu
, which all but put an end to the Indochina War
(1946-54). Roger Trinquier
, who theorised the systemic use of torture
in counter-insurgency in Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency (1961), was also a member of this organisation .
Along with Colonel Jean Gardes, chief French expert in psychological warfare
, Jean Ousset developed the concept of "subversion
" . According to Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky
, "this conceived a protean, quintessential enemy who, rather than being defined by his actions, was seen as a force trying to subvert Christian order, natural law
or the Creator's plan." According to Ousset, "the revolutionary apparatus is ideological before it is political, and political before it is military."
, and a thorough knowledge of the Church's doctrines." The first translated version of this book was in Spanish, published in Argentina in 1961 and for which Antonio Caggiano, Archbishop of Buenos Aires from 1959 to 1965, wrote a prologue, where he thanked the "men of La Ciudad Católica of Argentina." In this prologue, Caggiano explained that Marxism was born of "the negation of Christ and his Church put into practice by the Revolution
" and spoke of a Marxist conspiracy to take over the world, for which it was necessary to "prepare for the decisive battle," although the enemy had not yet "taken up arms." The Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky
commented this: "As often happens in a continent that imports ideas, the doctrine of annihilation preceded that of the revolutionary uprising." Caggiano compared this vigilance to the one that preceded the 1571 Battle of Lepanto
"to save Europe from domination by the Turks." Ousset's book also included a list of the papal bull
s condemning communism.
Colonel Jean Gardes arrived in Argentina in 1963 . Her daughter showed in 2003 to French journalist Marie-Monique Robin
notes from her father, which show that in March 1963, a naval ieutenant commander, Federico Lucas Roussillon, offered Gardes Argentine government protection if he would deliver counter-insurgency courses at the ESMA
, the Navy Mechanic Schools . In 1955, then Lieutenant Roussillon took part in the Revolución Libertadora
, the Catholic nationalist movement led by Eduardo Lonardi
which overthrew Juan Domingo Perón. Major Juan Francisco Guevara, one of Lonardi's general staff, proposed that the conspirational password be "God is Just."' Roussillon became in 1963 a member of the Naval intelligence
service, and retired in 1979 with the rank of Captain. Soon after Gardes met Roussillon, the Cadets at the ESMA were shown the film The Battle of Algiers
, which described one of the first counter-insurgency battle, during which General Marcel Bigeard
and Jacques Massu
made a systemic use of torture
, block warden
system, and death flights (dubbed "Crevettes Bigeard", or "Bigeard's Shrimps") .
Traditionalist Catholic
Traditionalist Catholics are Roman Catholics who believe that there should be a restoration of many or all of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions and presentations of Catholic teachings which prevailed in the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council...
organisation created in 1946 by Jean Ousset
Jean Ousset
Jean Ousset was a French ideologist of National Catholicism born in Porto, Portugal. He was an activist of the Action française monarchist movement in the 1930s, and personal secretary of its leader, Charles Maurras...
, originally a follower of Charles Maurras
Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras was a French author, poet, and critic. He was a leader and principal thinker of Action Française, a political movement that was monarchist, anti-parliamentarist, and counter-revolutionary. Maurras' ideas greatly influenced National Catholicism and "nationalisme...
(founder of the monarchist Action française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
in 1899) and Jean Masson (1910-1965), not to be confused (as F. Venner did) with Jacques Desoubrie
Jacques Desoubrie
Jacques Desoubrie was a French traitor and double agent who worked for the Gestapo during the German occupation of France during World War II.-Early life:...
, who also used the pseudonym Jean Masson . Despite the presence of Roman Catholic clergy in some of its meetings, the Cité catholique is not officially recognised by the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
.
It first took the name of Oeuvres de la Cité Catholique (Works of the Catholic City) and then of Office international des Oeuvres de formation civique et d'action culturelle selon le droit national chrétien (ICTUS, International Office of Works of Civic Formation and Cultural Action According to National Christian Law) before being known under the name Cité Catholique . It is now presided by Jacques Tremollet de Villers
Jacques Trémollet de Villers
Jacques Trémolet de Villers is a French writer, lawyer, president of the Catholic fundamentalist group La Cité Catholique since the 1980s and monarchist activist in the Restauration nationale movement....
, a former associate of the far-right politician Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour
Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour
Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour was a lawyer and French nationalist politician. He was a candidate in the 1965 French presidential election when his campaign manager was Jean-Marie Le Pen. He won 1,260,208 votes, which was 5.2% of the total, giving him fourth place after De Gaulle, Mitterrand and...
and former defence attorney for accused war criminal Paul Touvier
Paul Touvier
Paul Touvier was a French Nazi collaborator. In 1994, he was the first Frenchman convicted of crimes against humanity for his actions in Vichy France.- Early life :...
.. The Cité catholique also helped found in 1971 the pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
NGO Laissez-les-vivre . Jean-Paul Bolufer, a former alumni of the ENA
Ena
-Organizations:* Escuela Nacional de Archiveros, La primera institución especializada en Archivos* École nationale d'administration, a school where many of France's senior officials are instructed* English Nationalist Alliance* Education Networks of America...
and who was the chief of staff of Christine Boutin
Christine Boutin
Christine Boutin is a French politician and a major Christian democratic figure in France. She served as a member of the French National Assembly representing Yvelines, from 1986 until 2007, when she was appointed Minister of Housing and Urban Development by President Nicolas Sarkozy...
, Minister of Housing and the City, before being forced to resign, and close to the Opus Dei
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
, was trained by Cité catholique .
History
An advance party of the Cité catholique arrived in Argentina in 1958, in the middle of the Algerian War (1954-62) and after the militaryRevolución Libertadora
The Revolución Libertadora was a military uprising that ended the second presidential term of Juan Perón in Argentina, on September 16, 1955.-History:...
which deposed Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
in 1955 . The Cité Catholique brought to Argentina a doctrine of counter-revolutionary warfare and torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, justified as part of Thomist
Thomism
Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, his commentaries on Aristotle are his most lasting contribution...
dogmatism. They would thus provide the ideological support of the future "Dirty war
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
" carried out by the Argentine military in the 1970s .
Many members of the group had taken part in the pro-"French Algeria" OAS terrorist group created in Madrid, and which attempted to block the implementation of the March 1962 Evian Accords
Évian Accords
The Évian Accords comprise a treaty which was signed in 1962 in Évian-les-Bains, France by France and the F.L.N. . The Accords put an end to the Algerian War with a formal cease-fire proclaimed for March 19, and formalized the idea of cooperative exchange between the two countries...
and also tried several times to assassinate General Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
, whom the French far-right felt had deceived them. Following the dismantlement of the OAS and execution of some of its members, the OAS chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
, Fr. Georges Grasset, organised the flight of OAS members, from a route going from Paris to Franquist Spain and finally to Argentina . Grasset arrived in 1962 in Buenos Aires to take charge of the Argentine branch of the Cité Catholique
Charles Lacheroy
Charles Lacheroy
Charles Lacheroy was a French Army officer, theorist of Counter-insurgency warfare, and member of the Organisation de l'armée secrète.-Biography:...
, a member of this group, was the first person to reflect on the reasons behind the 1954 French defeat at Dien Bien Phu
Dien Bien Phu
Điện Biên Phủ is a city in northwestern Vietnam. It is the capital of Dien Bien province, and is known for the events there during the First Indochina War, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, during which the region was a breadbasket for the Việt Minh.-Population:...
, which all but put an end to the Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
(1946-54). Roger Trinquier
Roger Trinquier
Roger Trinquier was a French Army officer during World War II, the First Indochina War and the Algerian War, serving mainly in airborne and Special forces units...
, who theorised the systemic use of torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
in counter-insurgency in Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency (1961), was also a member of this organisation .
Along with Colonel Jean Gardes, chief French expert in psychological warfare
Psychological warfare
Psychological warfare , or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations , have been known by many other names or terms, including Psy Ops, Political Warfare, “Hearts and Minds,” and Propaganda...
, Jean Ousset developed the concept of "subversion
Subversion (politics)
Subversion refers to an attempt to transform the established social order, its structures of power, authority, and hierarchy; examples of such structures include the State. In this context, a "subversive" is sometimes called a "traitor" with respect to the government in-power. A subversive is...
" . According to Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky
Horacio Verbitsky
Horacio Verbitsky is a prominent Argentine investigative journalist and author. He writes for the left-leaning Argentine newspaper Página/12 and heads up the Center for Legal and Social Studies , an Argentine human-rights organization.He is also a member of the Directive Board of Human Rights...
, "this conceived a protean, quintessential enemy who, rather than being defined by his actions, was seen as a force trying to subvert Christian order, natural law
Natural law
Natural law, or the law of nature , is any system of law which is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. Natural law is contrasted with the positive law Natural...
or the Creator's plan." According to Ousset, "the revolutionary apparatus is ideological before it is political, and political before it is military."
Le Marxisme-Léninisme
In Le Marxisme-Léninisme, Jean Ousset wrote that Marxists could only be combatted by "a profound faith, an unlimited obedience to the Holy FatherPope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
, and a thorough knowledge of the Church's doctrines." The first translated version of this book was in Spanish, published in Argentina in 1961 and for which Antonio Caggiano, Archbishop of Buenos Aires from 1959 to 1965, wrote a prologue, where he thanked the "men of La Ciudad Católica of Argentina." In this prologue, Caggiano explained that Marxism was born of "the negation of Christ and his Church put into practice by the Revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
" and spoke of a Marxist conspiracy to take over the world, for which it was necessary to "prepare for the decisive battle," although the enemy had not yet "taken up arms." The Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky
Horacio Verbitsky
Horacio Verbitsky is a prominent Argentine investigative journalist and author. He writes for the left-leaning Argentine newspaper Página/12 and heads up the Center for Legal and Social Studies , an Argentine human-rights organization.He is also a member of the Directive Board of Human Rights...
commented this: "As often happens in a continent that imports ideas, the doctrine of annihilation preceded that of the revolutionary uprising." Caggiano compared this vigilance to the one that preceded the 1571 Battle of Lepanto
Battle of Lepanto (1571)
The Battle of Lepanto took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic maritime states, decisively defeated the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire in five hours of fighting on the northern edge of the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece...
"to save Europe from domination by the Turks." Ousset's book also included a list of the papal bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
s condemning communism.
Colonel Jean Gardes arrived in Argentina in 1963 . Her daughter showed in 2003 to French journalist Marie-Monique Robin
Marie-Monique Robin
Marie-Monique Robin is an award-winning French journalist. She received the Albert Londres Prize in 1995 for Voleurs d'yeux, an expose about organ theft...
notes from her father, which show that in March 1963, a naval ieutenant commander, Federico Lucas Roussillon, offered Gardes Argentine government protection if he would deliver counter-insurgency courses at the ESMA
ESMA
The Navy Petty-Officers School of Mechanics , commonly referred to by its abbreviation ESMA, is a facility of the Argentine Navy that was employed as an illegal detention center during the dictatorial rule of the National Reorganization Process...
, the Navy Mechanic Schools . In 1955, then Lieutenant Roussillon took part in the Revolución Libertadora
Revolución Libertadora
The Revolución Libertadora was a military uprising that ended the second presidential term of Juan Perón in Argentina, on September 16, 1955.-History:...
, the Catholic nationalist movement led by Eduardo Lonardi
Eduardo Lonardi
Eduardo A. Lonardi Doucet served as de facto president of Argentina from September 23, 1955 until November 13, 1955.-Biography:He was born on September 15, 1896....
which overthrew Juan Domingo Perón. Major Juan Francisco Guevara, one of Lonardi's general staff, proposed that the conspirational password be "God is Just."' Roussillon became in 1963 a member of the Naval intelligence
Argentine Navy
The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
service, and retired in 1979 with the rank of Captain. Soon after Gardes met Roussillon, the Cadets at the ESMA were shown the film The Battle of Algiers
The Battle of Algiers (film)
The Battle of Algiers is a 1966 war film based on occurrences during the Algerian War against French colonial occupation in North Africa, the most prominent being the titular Battle of Algiers. It was directed by Gillo Pontecorvo...
, which described one of the first counter-insurgency battle, during which General Marcel Bigeard
Marcel Bigeard
Marcel "Bruno" Bigeard was a French military officer who fought in World War II, Indochina and Algeria. He was one of the commanders in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and is thought by many to have been a dominating influence on French 'unconventional' warfare thinking from that time onwards...
and Jacques Massu
Jacques Massu
Jacques Émile Massu was a French general who fought in World War II, the First Indochina War, the Algerian War and the Suez crisis.-Early life:Jacques Massu was born in Châlons-sur-Marne to a family of military officers; his father was an artillery officer...
made a systemic use of torture
Torture during the Algerian War
Elements of the French Armed Forces as well as of the opposing Algerian National Liberation Front made use of torture during the Algerian War of Independence , creating an ongoing public controversy. Pierre Vidal-Naquet estimates that there were "possibly hundreds of thousands of instances of...
, block warden
Block warden
Block warden may refer to:*Nazi Blockleiter*Block warden system first experimented during the 1957 Battle of Algiers , and which would become a common technique of counter-insurgency throughout the 20th century. Also used for example during the "Dirty War" in Argentina and in the Portuguese...
system, and death flights (dubbed "Crevettes Bigeard", or "Bigeard's Shrimps") .