Note of discord in celebrations

Press, 22 June 1989, Page 8

Note of discord in celebrations

NZPA Paris The French Catholic Church has struck the first serious note of discord in celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, reminding the country that murder and decadence were commonplace then.

The French President Francois . Mitterrand, launched official revolution celebrations yesterday, saying freedom fighters around the world

looked to the revolution as an example. As he spoke, the country’s top cleric, Cardinal Albert Decourtray, twice attacked anti-establish-

ment violence that followed the revolution, known as the Terror. “The Terror disfigured the initial revolutionary message,” he told the daily, “Le Monde.” Later, Cardinal Decourtray appeared to support disparate groups opposing revolution celebrations when he recalled at a

special Mass in Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris, “the persecutions, the executions” unleashed by revolutionaries.

Opposition to the celebrations has come from royalists bemoaning the end of the French monarchy and traditionalist Catholic groups which condemn the murder and harassment of priests who refused to pledge allegiance to revolutionaries. Mr Mitterrand and his socialist-dominated Gov-

ernment plan huge celebrations around the country leading up to July 14, the 200th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille prison by the mob.

On Tuesday he marked the anniversary of the founding of France’s National Assembly on June 20, 1789, saying the revolutionary message had inspired China’s prodemocracy movement, which was crushed by troops in Peking earlier this month.