86 Paris, Montmartre, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The Gospel is sport!

 86 Paris, Montmartre, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart

This tremendously famous church, which towers over Montmartre in Paris, is more directly political than most. It is often said to have been built as revenge against the Paris Commune, an insurrection during which the workers controlled Paris for a couple of months and showed the wonderful possibilities of workers’ power before being massacred by the authorities. This is not 100% true, in that the plans to build this church were decided before the Paris Commune. Nevertheless, the right wingers of the time certainly presented the church, and the worship of the sacrament in it as penance for the terrible sin of workers’ insurrection. As a result the church is cordially detested by many left wing activists in France (even more than the significant minority of left activists here who cordially detest any religious building).

Shortly after the building of the church, it was the site of the National Vow, which again was a very conservative political initiative. And the links of the church with ideological conflict between Left and Right have continued into the 21st century . In 2004, the Paris town council renamed the square in front of the church « Louise Michel Square » after a heroine of the Paris Commune insurrection. (Although it has to be said that the square was previously named after an antisemitic caricaturist). In 2023, it has been decided that a statue of Louise Michel will be erected.

The presence of a chapel dedicated to the queens of France is another sign of conservative politics in the building.

The gilded illustrations on the walls of the church are very pretty, and the gilded Stations of the Cross quite exceptional. When I visited, the church posters were being modern and trying to link in with the rugby world cup and the Olympic Games, both being held in France, by using the slogan « l’évangile, c’est sport » (« the Gospel is sport »). This is really a play on words, because it could also mean that absorbing and spreading the message of the gospel is a particularly strenuous and dynamic activity.