Pontier criticises security crackdown

Archbishop Georges Pontier, head of the Bishops’ Conference in France, has criticised a government plan to withdraw French citizenship from active jihadists who have another nationality, writes Tom Heneghan.

The measure, one of several security moves announced by President François Hollande after last month’s massacres in Paris, has been denounced by critics as unconstitutional and caused splits even within his Socialist Party.

“It’s not a good sign. First because the measure won’t stop people,” the archbishop told Europe 1 radio. “It panders to fear and promotes social isolation.”

Pontier, whose Marseille archdiocese has a large Muslim population, said the government should “insist on respect for people, on dignity and welcome”.

French churches celebrated Christmas amid special precautions with the state of emergency declared last month still in effect. In the only reported incident, police evacuated 800 people from a midnight Mass in Besançon because of a suspect car parked outside, but it was a false alarm.