Sarkozy’s Prison Reading Exposes Naturalist Distortion of Christ
Portal Catholic News Agency reports on Nicolas Sarkozy’s imprisonment with Jean-Christian Petitfils’ book The Jesus of History, highlighting the former French president’s purported interest in Christ’s miracles and resurrection. Petitfils claims Sarkozy sees parallels between his legal predicament and the “unjust condemnations” of Edmond Dantès and Jesus Christ. The historian boasts that his work combines “scientific historical research” with faith, allegedly transforming readers’ spiritual lives. This spectacle epitomizes the modernist reduction of divine revelation to psychological symbolism.
Naturalism Masquerading as Scholarship
Petitfils’ methodology embodies the condemned errors of historical-critical exegesis:
“My book is first and foremost the work of a historian… The historian cannot ‘prove’ miracles, much less the Resurrection. But it is clear that faith and history are not incompatible”
This assertion directly contradicts Lamentabili Sane (1907), which condemns the proposition that “divine inspiration does not extend to the whole of Holy Scripture to such an extent that all and individual parts of it are protected from every error” (Proposition 11). The Holy Office under Pius X anathematized such attempts to subject divine mysteries to empirical verification, declaring: “Faith is not a blind religious feeling bursting forth from the recesses of the subconscious… but a genuine assent of the intellect to truth received from without” (Pascendi Dominici Gregis, 19).
Theological Omissions Reveal Apostolic Betrayal
Nowhere does the article mention Christ’s divine kingship over nations – the central theme of Pius XI’s Quas Primas (1925), which established the Feast of Christ the King precisely to combat secular rulers’ usurpation of divine authority. Sarkozy’s reduction of Our Lord to a fellow “unjustly condemned victim” constitutes blasphemous inversion of the lex orandi: Christ suffered not as victim but as Priest and Victim offering propitiatory sacrifice. The article’s silence about Sarkozy’s need for sacramental confession and penance – the only means for a Catholic ruler to rectify public scandal – exposes the neo-church’s abandonment of extra Ecclesiam nulla salus.
Political Instrumentalization of Sacred Mysteries
Petitfils admits Sarkozy’s gesture carries a “clear symbolic and political dimension”, revealing how conciliar ecclesiology enables the secular abuse of religion. Contrast this with Pius IX’s condemnation in the Syllabus of Errors: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Proposition 55). Sarkozy’s attempt to sanctify his imprisonment through Christological parallels constitutes sacrilegious manipulation, equivalent to Herod’s mockery of Our Lord. True Catholic rulers historically entered monasteries for penance – like Emperor Theodosius – not prisons for corruption convictions.
False Ecumenism in Historical Garb
The article’s celebration of Petitfils’ book transforming readers’ faith ignores Pius X’s warning that modernist methods “lead to the elimination of the supernatural” (Pascendi, 39). By treating Resurrection as historical “mystery” rather than demonstrable fact requiring submission of intellect, Petitfils promotes the condemned error: “Faith, as assent of the mind, is ultimately based on a sum of probabilities” (Lamentabili, Proposition 25). His Shroud of Turin research exemplifies naturalism condemned by Leo XIII: “When the method of natural science is extended to religion… men reject the divine authority of the Church and substitute a certain critical mind for Christian faith” (Providentissimus Deus, 17).
Silence on Supernatural Essentials
Most damningly absent is any call for Sarkozy’s public repentance and sacramental reconciliation. The article reduces Christianity to existential “transcendence” and psychological comfort:
“The experience of God invites us to understand that we are not alone and that we are always with Christ, even in solitude”
This echoes Modernism’s definition of faith as “a sentiment originating in a need of the divine” (Pascendi, 8), ignoring the Council of Trent’s decree that justification requires “detestation of sin… with a purpose of amendment of life” (Session VI, Chapter VI). Sarkozy’s imprisonment for corruption demands not literary consolation but the Syllabus‘ condemnation: “A contradiction can exist between the events presented in Holy Scripture and the Church’s dogmas” (Proposition 23).
The spectacle of a disgraced statesman clutching a “historical Jesus” book while avoiding sacramental confession perfectly symbolizes the neo-church’s bankruptcy. As true Catholics pray for Sarkozy’s genuine conversion, they recall Pius XI’s warning: “When God and Jesus Christ are removed from laws and states, the foundations of authority collapse” (Quas Primas). Only through public penitence and submission to Christ the King – not historical curiosity – can leaders or nations find redemption.
Source:
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy takes book about Jesus to prison with him (catholicnewsagency.com)
Article date: 04.11.2025