A close associate of far-right leader Marine Le Pen remarked, ‘Nothing good can be said of the deceased,’ just hours after Pope Francis passed away on Monday, April 21. Le Pen, who heads the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, refrained from her typical criticisms of the pope and instead offered a measured tribute. ‘The pope has died. A spiritual leader has departed, leaving a legacy of faith, peace, and dialogue. My thoughts are with the Catholic community as they mourn his loss,’ she posted on X.
Her deputy, Jordan Bardella, elaborated further, highlighting the late pope’s ‘consistent focus on the overlooked and the dignity of the most vulnerable.’ In contrast, MEP Marion Maréchal, Le Pen’s niece and a member of the far-right Identité-Libertés party, which is linked to the RN, kept her remarks minimal. ‘Pope Francis has returned to God this Easter Monday. May his soul rest in peace,’ she stated.
During his papacy, which emphasized the welcoming of migrants, Pope Francis became a frequent target for far-right criticism. Le Pen had previously stated in a 2017 interview with La Croix, ‘His insistence that nations act against the interests of their people by imposing no conditions on the acceptance of large-scale migration is, in my view, a political interference, especially since he is also the head of a state.’ This criticism came despite the pope’s choice of Lampedusa for his inaugural papal visit in 2013 and his symbolic gesture of washing the feet of a group of migrants on Holy Thursday in 2016.
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