French PM seeks ‘calm dialogue’

France’s new socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls has called for “a more open and calm dialogue” with Catholics after being booed twice by French pilgrims in Rome while attending the canonisations of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, writes Tom Heneghan.

He told journalists he wanted to find consensus on disputed areas such as end-of-life issues, assisted procreation and surrogacy.

Mr Valls, who as Interior Minister backed the gay-marriage reform that mobilised huge crowds of Catholic demonstrators last year, said that the law would remain. But, noting the defeat the socialists suffered at municipal elections last month, he conceded that the Government could not simply continue as before. “France has a history, nobody is going to deny or erase that,” he said, referring to its Christian heritage. It was now the time for “dialogue and respect”.