Philippe Laguérie (born 30 September 1952 in

Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine Sceaux () is a Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris. In 2019, Sceaux had a population of 20,004. Scea ...

) is a French

Traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is a movement that emphasizes beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions and presentations of teaching associated with the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). ...

priest. He was the first Superior General of the

Institute of the Good Shepherd The Institute of the Good Shepherd (, ) is a Catholic society of apostolic life made up of traditionalist priests promoting the Tridentine Mass and other traditional sacraments, in full communion with the Holy See. As of 2024, the Institute ...

(), which upholds the

Tridentine Mass The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or ''usus antiquior'' (), Vetus Ordo or the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) or the Traditional Rite, is the liturgy in the Roman Missal of the Catholic Church codified in ...

Career

Laguérie was raised in a Roman Catholic family and he studied for the priesthood at the

International Seminary of Saint Pius X The International Seminary of Saint Pius X in Écône, Valais, Switzerland, is the premier seminary of the Roman Catholic traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX). The seminary is one of the six houses for formation for the future priests o ...

, in

Écône Écône is an area in the municipality of Riddes, district of Martigny, in the canton of Valais, Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by It ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1979 by

Marcel Lefebvre Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dakar, Archbishop of Dakar from 1955 to 1962. He was a major inf ...

, founder of the

Society of St. Pius X The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX; ("Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X"), FSSPX) is a canonically irregular traditionalist Catholic priestly fraternity founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Lefebvre was a leading traditionalist ...

. In 1984 he succeeded

François Ducaud-Bourget Monsignor François Ducaud-Bourget (November 24, 1897 - June 12, 1984) was a prominent Traditionalist Catholic, traditionalist Roman Catholic France, French prelate, priest and close ally of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. French resistance Ducaud-Bou ...

as priest in charge of

Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet () is a Catholic church in the centre of Paris, France, in the 5th arrondissement. It was constructed between 1656 and 1763. The facade was designed in the classical style by Charles Le Brun. It contains many notable ...

in Paris, and remained there until 1997. In 2002, he moved to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

where he illegally squatted the Saint-Eloi Church, before he re-examined his situation due to the creation of the

Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei The Pontifical Commission ''Ecclesia Dei'' () was a commission of the Catholic Church established by Pope John Paul II's ''motu proprio'' '' Ecclesia Dei'' of 2 July 1988 for the care of those former followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who b ...

, which had been established in 1988 by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

to re-establish contacts with the Society of Saint Pius X. On 16 September 2004, Laguérie was dismissed from the Society by his superior bishop

Bernard Fellay Bernard Fellay (born 12 April 1958) is a Swiss traditionalist Catholic prelate who served as superior general of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) from 1994 to 2018. In 1988, Pope John Paul II announced that Fellay and three others were autom ...

. Two years later, on 8 September 2006, he was chosen as leader of the newly founded ''

Institut du Bon Pasteur The Institute of the Good Shepherd (, ) is a Catholic society of apostolic life made up of traditionalist priests promoting the Tridentine Mass and other traditional sacraments, in full communion with the Holy See. As of 2024, the Institute has ...

'', which received

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

's approval, thus regularizing the situation of the Saint-Eloi Church following a signed convention with the

archbishop of Bordeaux The Archdiocese of Bordeaux (–Bazas) (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Burdigalensis (–Bazensis)''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Bordeaux (–Bazas)''; Occitan: ''Archidiocèsi de Bordèu (–Vasats)'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or a ...

Jean-Pierre Ricard Jean-Pierre Ricard (born 26 September 1944) is a French prelate of the Catholic Church who was Archbishop of Bordeaux from 2001 to 2019. He has been a cardinal since 2006. He was previously Bishop of Montpellier for five years and before that ...

. He was reelected for another six years term on 13 August 2013. The

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

ratified the decision on 13 September 2013. According to canon law, the Institute of the Good Shepherd is a society of apostolic life dependent both on the Ecclesia Dei Commission and on the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. It exercises ordinary jurisdiction over the priests who depend on it.

Controversies

In the past, Fr. Laguérie has been sometimes connected with the

French far right The far-right () tradition in France finds its origins in the Third Republic with Boulangism and the Dreyfus affair. In the 1880s, General Georges Boulanger, called "General Revenge" (), championed demands for military revenge against Imperial Ge ...

. In 1987, he took the defence of

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (20 June 1928 – 7 January 2025), commonly known as Jean-Marie Le Pen (), was a French politician, lawyer and activist. He founded the far-right National Front (now National Rally) party and served as the party's presi ...

after the latter's controversial remarks on the gas chambers usage in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and criticized "the great Jewish banking who has held France in a dictatorship for forty-five years". He also claimed that some

Holocaust denial Historical negationism, Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazi Party, Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: ...

theses were "perfectly scientific". In 1996, Father Philippe Laguérie offered a Tridentine

Requiem Mass A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is u ...

for the soul of

Paul Touvier Paul Claude Marie Touvier (; 3 April 1915 – 17 July 1996) was a French Nazi collaborator and war criminal during World War II in Occupied France. In 1994, he became the first Frenchman ever convicted of crimes against humanity, for his parti ...

at St Nicolas du Chardonnet in Paris. A French Nazi collaborator and the first Frenchman ever convicted of

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

, Touvier had been a senior

Milice The (French Militia), generally called (; ), was a political paramilitary organization created on 30 January 1943 by the Vichy France, Vichy régime (with Nazi Germany, German aid) to help fight against the French Resistance during World War ...

official and a high-level perpetrator of the

Holocaust in France The Holocaust in France was the persecution, deportation, and annihilation of Jews between 1940 and 1944 in occupied France, metropolitan Vichy France, and in Vichy-controlled French North Africa, during World War II. The persecution began in 19 ...

. In 2021 he celebrated the Nuptial Mass of far-right leader

and his girlfriend Jany, at the presence of various far-right politicians.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laguerie, Philippe 1952 births Living people People from Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine French traditionalist Catholics Traditionalist Catholic priests Lycée Lakanal alumni 20th-century French Roman Catholic priests 21st-century French Roman Catholic priests People expelled from the Society of St. Pius X