PARIS (LifeSiteNews) — There will be no criminal proceedings against Father Matthieu Raffray, the priest who was recently threatened with a court case because he mentioned homosexuality as a “weakness” in an Instagram video about self-control.
A member of the traditional Institute of the Good Shepherd, Fr. Raffray was publicly called “homophobic” by DILCRAH, France’s official “anti-racist” and “anti-discrimination” agency, which lodged a notification with the Procurator of the Republic, a public magistrate who under the French penal system decides whether or not a case deserves to be judged in the courts. Last Friday, Fr. Raffray received a letter from the Procurator’s office in Paris stating that his posts on X and Instagram had been assessed and that they did not appear to qualify as an offence. The case was officially dismissed, meaning it was shelved and no action will be taken against the priest.
The Procurator mentioned two public remarks by Raffray as having been reported to him by DILCRAH: the March Instagram video and a post on X in January, when he was targeted by LGBT activists after having jumped to the defense of Father Guilhem Le Coq of the Fraternity of Saint Peter, who had been blasted for having suggested that a young man with “homophile tendencies” could follow a “spiritual retreat.” Raffray mentioned this to LifeSite in comments about the case.
The decision to shelve the case can be appealed, but this has not yet happened and an appeal is in fact quite improbable.
As LifeSiteNews made clear when reporting on Fr. Raffray, the chances that he would be subject to a full-blown trial were always slight, due to the French courts’ consistent jurisprudence in similar cases: Catholics’ freedom to “spread the teaching of the Church” on the grounds of religious liberty and freedom of expression and opinion has been upheld in several similar affairs.
Raffray himself posted a redacted picture on X last Friday of the Procurator’s short letter informing him of the dismissal (he had received no prior notification of possible proceedings):
Father,
On March 19 2024, the Inter-ministerial delegation for the fight against racism, antisemitism and anti-LGBT hatred referred the public prosecutor’s office in Paris to article 40 of the code of criminal procedure following two publications on your X and Instagram accounts on January 31 and March 14, 2024.
After a careful assessment of the language used, no offence appears to be sufficiently well-defined to warrant criminal proceedings against you. I therefore dismiss this prosecution.
Please accept, Father, the expression of my best regards.
This is, of course, the best possible outcome for Father Raffray and a slap in the face of Aurore Bergé, the minister for equality and non-discrimination, who publicly denounced his words on X, albeit without naming him. As for DILCRAH, which reacted only minutes later with the news that it was filing a report against “Mr. Raffray” on the basis of Article 40 of the code of penal procedure obliging “any constituted authority, public officer, or civil servant who, in the exercise of his duties, acquires knowledge of a crime or offence is required to notify the public prosecutor without delay,” its ideological approach is now very clear.
Not only did it indiscriminately follow the minister’s lead, calling “Mr. Raffray’s” public remarks “homophobic,” it also wasted the prosecutor’s office’s time in the name of the executive. To date, similar cases have been brought to the courts – and lost – by LGBT associations. DILCRAH is a national agency directly under the authority of the prime minister, created in 2012 to coordinate public action against “racism and antisemitism.” “Anti-LGBT hatred” was added in 2016. Its publicly funded budget of nearly $10 million is widely used to contribute to pro-LGBT associations, among others. Since the beginning of 2024 it has already spent more than $2 million to fund 42 “LGBT centers” across the country. As for shaming “homophobic remarks,” it clearly is on a path to fight legitimate speech.
READ: French gov’t threatens priest over Instagram call to fight homosexual temptations
Interestingly, DILCRAH used a civil title for Fr. Raffray instead of using his ecclesiastical title of “Monsieur l’abbé.” Although the separation of Church and State has been in force in France since 1905, such disregard for the rules of etiquette is characteristic of hostile secularism and many officials – including the Procurator who wrote to Fr. Raffray – are courteous enough to respect the conventions.
Fr. Matthieu Raffray added the following comment to the picture of the Procurator’s letter: “My comments do not fall foul of the law. I pray for my enemies and thank all those who supported me.”
The French bishops were not among those thanked by the priest. They were neither seen nor heard regarding the public outcry against Raffray in the liberal media when Aurore Bergé and DILCRAH attacked him and dozens of articles presented him as guilty of “homophobic” posts. Public “homophobia” is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $50,000.
The dismissal of the case garnered much less media attention than its beginning. Nor did the liberal press comment on the fact that neither X nor Instagram took down Raffray’s posts despite them having been reported by LGBT activists.
The dismissal makes clear that moral judgment of homosexual acts as giving in to temptations arising from a homosexual tendency seen as a “weakness” akin to “gluttony” or “wrath,” as mentioned by Fr. Raffray, is legitimate from a religious point of view. The priest was not condemning persons with homosexual tendencies but speaking about spiritual combat, about any man’s capacity to fight against personal weaknesses. He mentioned all the “vices” (tendencies to commit particular sins) and “sins” that “can find themselves in humankind,” following the moral categories of the Catholic Church. He said that the devil will always try to make sinners believe they do not have the capacity to refrain from sinful acts, inciting them to give up the fight.
Given that “conversion therapies” have been illegal in France since 2022 and that DILCRAH openly accused Raffray of having recommended them – probably because he supported Fr. Le Coq – thereby contravening the law, the dismissal of the case against him is an important decision for Catholics. Trying to live by the religious standards of the faith and calling on the faithful to do the same is not a criminal offence.
Or, at least, not yet. Further judiciary harassment and a tightening of the law remain on the cards – the French bishops, in particular, would do well to remember that the fight for their own freedoms is now on.
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