The term “Woke Right” has emerged recently to describe a specific section of the right. What does the term mean? Is it justified? In this clip from our weekly show #NCFDeprogrammed, the subject is debated by hosts Harrison Pitt and Connor Tomlinson and guest Michael Murphy, a journalist who has written for the Telegraph, Spectator and many other publications.
No Farmers, No Food: Hundreds of Tractors Converge on Central London over Labour’s Tax Raid on Family Farms
Hundreds of tractors descended upon central London as British farmers continue their protests against the leftist government’s inheritance tax raid on farms.
Up to 500 tractors are estimated to have made their way to London on Wednesday morning, blocking off multiple lanes of traffic around Whitehall as organizers vow to step up actions against Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer’s government if it refuses to back down.
Dairy farmer and member of the steering group of the No Farmers, No Food campaign group Charles Goadby told GB News that “this is only the beginning”.
“Everyone is pointing out that the government have got it wrong and they are refusing to admit it. The government is behaving like a petulant toddler.”
In addition to protests, the founder of Save British Farming, Liz Webster warned that farmers may start holding back food supplies next year if the government does not reverse course on its inheritance tax raid on farms.
Since coming into office in July, the leftist Labour government has argued that despite taxes already being at decades-high levels, billions more are required to fund public services and fill a supposed £22 billion “black hole” in the nation’s finances left by the previous Tory government.
As a part of its high-tax agenda, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has pushed forward a plan to strip family farms of their inheritance tax exemption, which has been in place since 1984. Under the plans, by 2026, farms valued at least £1 million (£2m for married couples) will now face an inheritance tax of 20 per cent.
While the government has claimed the measure is intended to target wealthy people using farms as a means of avoiding inheritance tax and that three quarters of farms would not be impacted, the National Farmers’ Union have estimated that 60 per cent of farms could be impacted and that families will likely be forced to sell land in order to merely pay the tax. This is a major concern as with modern farming practices smaller farms struggle to remain financially viable.
Speaking to The Times of London, protesting farmer Phil Cookes, 38, lamented “my dad can’t afford to die while Labour are in power.
Cookes, who attended the protest with his wife and five-month-old daughter, explained that his mother died earlier this year and had left their family farm in his father’s name. The 200-acre third-generation farm is valued at up to £3 million and would therefore fall under the tax grab should his father die and the family would have no recourse other than selling off land.
They were also supported by former Home Secretary James Cleverly, who remarked: “I stand with family farms. Labour’s tax grab will hurt UK farming and farming families. Ahead of the election Labour promised the Nation Farmers Union that they wouldn’t chance the farming tax framework. Then they did.”
‘A Muslim is allowed to do that’ – A Tunisian migrant who nearly stabbed his roommate said the attack was justified due to a male-on-male rape attempt
A Tunisian migrant is on trial for nearly stabbing his roommate to death, also a Tunisian migrant, after claiming the roommate tried to rape him. The Tunisian already admitted during his trial that he wanted to kill the man but said that the attacked was justified under Islamic law due to the roommate’s rape attempt.
The 19-year-old, who was in an asylum center in Trossingen on Gottlieb-Daimler-Strasse when the attack took place on May 1, stabbed his roommate unexpectedly in the stomach with a kitchen knife in order to kill him. He also stabbed the man in the back. The victim’s life was only saved due to emergency surgery.
The alleged perpetrator said that his roommate drugged him and raped him while he was sleeping, but then claimed it was only an “attempted” rape. He said there was semen found on his right pant leg and then said it was on his left pant leg, but that appears to be his only claim to any evidence that his roommate did anything sexual.
Not only does the victim, 34, deny that he ever raped his roommate, but said that he came to Germany to receive medical treatment after a serious traffic accident in Tunisia. Now, he has disabilities from the accident and wounds from the stabbing attack.
“He wanted to kill me,” said the victim. He said he and the alleged stabber had gotten along well before the attack, which is why he cannot comprehend why he was targeted.
The perpetrator, however, showed no guilt for the stabbing, according to Schwäbische newspaper. The paper wrote that he said that “a Muslim is allowed do that under these circumstances,” citing the alleged rape.
Now, the youth section of the Rottweil Regional Court has placed the perpetrator in a closed psychiatric ward due to a diagnosis of schizophrenia. However, the reporter for Schwäbische appears to raise questions about the psychiatric diagnosis, saying the man “patiently, succinctly, and clearly” answered questions for three hours in court “with an apparently clear mind.”
During his testimony, the man said, “I am not sick.” He also added that “I grew up completely normally.”
However, during the testimony, he also admitted that he did not make it past the seventh grade despite trying three times. He was also beaten by his father, has no vocational training, and has tried numerous jobs, including hairdressing and working as a sailor, with each position ending in failure.
He paid a lot of money to a smuggler to come to Germany for “a better life.” It should be noted that Tunisia is not a country at war, and asylum requests from migrants from the country are almost always denied. In many cases, the migrant ends up staying in Germany anyway due to difficulties managing deportations.
The man also came to Germany without knowledge of German or English and with no high school degree. He made it to the Italian island of Lampedusa after paying a smuggler €1,000. He arrived in Germany’s Freiburg in August 2023 and was transferred to different facilities. After a week in Trossingen, there were already outbursts of regular violence from the Tunisian.
Syrian Demonstrators Storm German Christmas Markets
On Sunday, December 8th, 11,000 Syrian migrants entered the Christmas market in Essen, Germany, chanting “Allahu Akbar” and firing shots.
Since the beginning of the week, smartphone videos of the scene have proliferated on social media, sparking a number of angry and worried reactions to the scale of the demonstration, the behaviour of the participants, and the poor police response.
This latest gathering of Syrian migrants was known to and prepared for by the police. But the planned demonstration grew in size as the fall of Bashar al-Assad was confirmed, followed by his flight from Damascus, the Syrian capital. The numbers far exceeded advance estimates: with only 300 participants expected, ultimately, thousands of Syrians lined the streets of the city carrying flags.
In the videos circulating on social media, the contrast between the aggressiveness of the demonstrators and the festive, family atmosphere of the Christmas market is striking. Online, some have asked if the choice of location was random or deliberate. They see the targeting of the Christmas market as an offensive by the demonstrators against a symbol of Christian civilisation.
The Essen police have defended themselves by claiming to have deployed appropriate security for the gathering, including a helicopter. The concern of the local population is explained by the demonstrators’ gunfire and use of smoke grenades.
The people of Essen are all the more sensitive to the possibility of violence since, at the end of September, the town was the scene of a violent knife and machete attack followed by arson, in which 31 people were injured, including children. The perpetrator was a Syrian migrant.
Similar scenes were reported in Stuttgart, Dresden and Leipzig.
Syrian Demonstrators Storm German Christmas Markets ━ The European Conservative
Islamists CRASH Christmas Markets In Germany
Now We Know Why the Presidential Election Results in Romania Were Cancelled – The Winning Candidate Threatened US Weapons Pipeline to Ukraine (Video)
The Eastern European country of Romania was in shock after the first round of its Presidential elections in late November as independent, rightwing candidate, Călin Georgescu, a Euroskeptic who has called the United Nations ‘satanic’ came out as the big winner.
Almost as shocking was the fact that the Prime Minister, a leftist-globalist-euro-fanatic candidate, whom all opinion polls called the favorite, came in third and was out of the race.
The BBC reported:
“With more than 99% of votes counted, ultranationalist Calin Georgescu has an unassailable lead of nearly 350,000 votes over center-right candidate Elena Lasconi, with Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the pre-election favorite, in third.
The strong showing of Georgescu, who has no party of his own and campaigned largely on the social media platform TikTok, came as the biggest surprise of the election.”
Following his surprising win on Sunday, Călin Georgescu went out and posted a video glorifying God and condemning the emptiness and godlessness of the globalist elites.
Well, Călin Georgescu’s celebrations did not last long.
How a Faith-Based Company is Changing the Way Americans Protect Their Retirement
The Romanian Constitutional Court cancelled the first round of presidential elections a mere days before the second round, which was to take place earlier this month.
The court , blamed Russia of interfering with the election on social media. Does that sound familiar?
Still the favorite to win Romania’s controversial presidential election – whenever it gets to be held – Georgescu is firing on all cylinders, stepping up his criticism against the Romanian globalist establishment.
The Biden regime, of course, agreed with the Romanian court’s baseless decision to cancel the first round of the election.
Now we know why this Romanian election is so important for the globalists running the West.
Mike Benz explained the weapons pipeline from Pakistan through Romania to Ukraine that will be threatened if Georgescu is “allowed” to win the election and lead Romania in a new direction.
Mike Benz was on with Natalie Winters on The War Room when he dropped this bomb.
Mike Benz: That if the Russia-neutral party, which just won the election in Romania, takes power, that party which campaigned on ending all support for Ukraine in the war against Russia. That would massively cripple NATO’s ability to carry out a successful campaign on behalf of Ukraine, because Romania is the main weapons trans-shipment point from all CIA and UK arms that are warehoused in Pakistan.
There’s a There’s a major sea bridge, there’s a major airbridge that allows US weapons, which are warehoused in Pakistan to support, initially the Mujahadeen in the 1970s, and then Al Qaeda, and now, ISIS. Serendipitously, this is happening the same week that ISIS just took effective control over Syria. Actually, they’re now the sitting government.
But those arms initially flow from Pakistan, from the south, and then obviously, Turkey through the north. But there’s There’s this trans-shipment route from Pakistan to Romania, Romania into Ukraine. If those weapons, caches, and munitions are stopped because the sitting government in Romania does not want to be hostile to Russia and therefore shuts off the military aid to Ukraine, there goes Ukraine.
Here they are sitting there essentially with their thumbs up their butts, trying to think of a reason to cancel the elections so that they can continue their war on Russia.
What they’ve done here is something that was attempted to be done here in the US in 2016. If folks remember, Norm Eisen and the legal hatchet blob team in 2016 tried to get members of Congress to annul the election results on January 6th, 2017, by arguing that Russia had interfered on US social media.
Now, they were unsuccessful in that campaign. I think something like only 13 or 16 members of the House of Representatives were on board with that plan. But evidently, they pulled that off in Romania.
My question is, who at the State Department, who at USAID, who at the National Endowment for Democracy, leaned on the Romanian Court to make this happen?
Authors go to EP to warn of radical Islam in Belgian schools
Jean-Pierre Martin and Laurence D’Hondt, who wrote a controversial book on the rising Islamism that is facing teachers in Belgium, presented their book on December 10 in the European Parliament.
Laurence D’Hondt highlighted how she and Martin have been professional journalists, working across the Islamic world, and now see how radical Islam is spreading, how Islamists “impose their views and way of life on everyone.”
She labelled this rising Islamism “a totalitarian project’ and said it was “worrisome” to see it grow so much.
A watershed moment for France came with two startling murders: the killings and decapitations of schoolteachers Samuel Paty in 2020 and Dominique Bernard in 2023 by radical Muslims.
But in Belgium, not much was generally known, and for that reason, D’hondt and Martin went out to speak with teachers in Belgium. They discovered the situation is bad as well, especially in Brussels.
“Schools in Belgium are a target of the Muslim Brotherhood,” D’hondt said.
Martin noted that since its inception in the 1920’s, the Muslim Brotherhood has targeted schools and educational institutions. For example in Turkey, when Kemal Ataturk created a secular state, Martin said the Muslim Brotherhood became experts in subversive ways.
He warned that in Europe, many have a blind spot for how they operate, leading to increasing problems.
“Now it’s a difficult situation in many schools.”
He said there was intensive proselytization in schools and that politics “didn’t take the necessary steps to safeguard secularism”.
Martin noted that the youngest generations never knew the power of faith in society and did not know the repercussions of Islamism on freedom or on the relationship between men and women.
Assita Kanko, a Belgian MEP who is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, hosted the event. She remarked that in Brussels political Islam was on the rise, pointing to the Belgian politician Fouad Ahidar, whose party emphasises Muslim issues. He made gains in the local elections in October. Radical Muslims also were present in cultural centres showing increasing political and intellectual power of radicals in the capital of Europe.
This, of course, is visible in Brussels schools, where the authors talked with teachers, who said they see a shift in atmosphere in class, where girls say they want to wear veils.
Some children appear to be captured by the radical ideology, but many moderate Muslim children appear to be forced to follow the most radical, feeling intimidation and experiencing social pressure.
Belgian teachers say they were no longer invited to certain parties, and some suffered from burnouts.
“There is separatism at schools in Brussels”, Laurence D’hondt said.
“If it happens in schools today, it will be in our streets tomorrow”.
Organisers of the initial presentation just a few weeks ago in November, pulled out after they received threats, apparently from young Muslims who were offended by people allegedly abusing the name of Allah.
Since 2016, there is a new Islamic radicalism, Martin said, less visible, more pernicious.
“Women play a prominent role, experimental even.” They were used to spread radical Islam, often in an educational role.
D’hondt pointed out they were often well-educated, wore make up, appear open, wear a veil, look modern and so on, but did have a radical political agenda.
Wearing a veil was said to be a telling sign, and it allegedly was not a coincidence a TV channel such as Al Jazeera showed young veiled children so often.
Kanko noted that European institutions often used advertising with veiled women and girls.
The authors said there is an inverse integration ongoing, where Europe is increasingly opting for halal food instead of the other way around.
D’hondt said radical Muslims often use the judicial route, and leaned on so-called anti-discrimination laws to get what they want at schools, including the right to wear a veil.
But the radicals did not limit themselves only to this. They also used the economic route, and promoted halal food for example, or the social and cultural route, promoting ritual slaughter, Ramadan and other Islamic customs.
“Discreetly, they are using our system and liberties to impose their customs.”
According to Kanko, all political parties were too supportive of this communautarism, but in particular, the Left supported this way too much.
The authors also noticed a rise in antisemitism, where young children talk about “filthy Jews” and where parents meddle in and determine what can or cannot be said at schools.
Making everything worse is that all this radicalism was pushed via systems often receiving heavy subsidies from Brussels, where radicals allegedly could hand out money with no checks or controls.
Both authors of the book Allah n’a rien à faire dans ma classe (Allah has nothing to do in my class) were invited to the EP by Assita Kanko, Belgian MEP for the European Conservatives and Reformists and François Bellamy, French MEP for the European People’s Party after an earlier presentation in Brussels was chancelled.
Bellamy could not attend the event due to the political situation in France.
Authors go to EP to warn of radical Islam in Belgian schools
Female Inmates Forced to Share Shower with Trans-Identified Male Convicted Of Murder
A trans-identified male serving a life sentence for murder who was quietly transferred in to a women’s prison is now sharing a shower with female inmates, causing them to feel “violated.” Bradley Richard Sirvio, 53, was transferred into Minnesota women’s prison MCF-Shakopee at the end of last year after claiming to identify as transgender and adopting the name “Aurora.”
In November of 1995, Sirvio beat a man to death with a hammer before setting the victim’s house on fire. According to court records, Sirvio was checking himself into a detoxification center when he “volunteered to a staff member during the intake process that he may have murdered someone named George and then set the house on fire to cover up what he had done.”
A repeat offender, Sirvio has several other convictions that include multiple charges of assault, burglary, and theft. He was quietly transferred to MCF-Shakopee, Minnesota’s only women’s prison, in November of 2023. The move was made a full five months ahead of the date that a newly-drafted gender identity prison policy was set to take effect, meaning that the state of Minnesota voluntarily chose to transfer Sirvio.
Now, two women who are housed next to Sirvio have come forward to protest the situation. The women reveal that female inmates have been told to share a shower with Sirvio, despite the convicted killer having had “no surgery whatsoever.” The women, whose names have been altered to protect their identities, say that Sirvio’s presence is causing them to feel anxious and violated.
One woman, Letitia, explained: “They put a man next door to me. He claimed to be transgender. I now have to share the same wing with him. I also share the same shower with no lock on the inside door … The whole wing of women share just one shower, and we do not have another shower besides this one. Some of the women live in the wing lounge, and this is their only bathroom.”
She continued: “This man is not transgender. No surgery has been done whatsoever. He is fully a man, and still has a man’s body part attached to him. He acts like a man, sounds like a man, behaves like a man.”
Letitia describes herself as a “vulnerable adult,” and adds that she feels exceedingly uncomfortable sharing an unlocked shower with a biological male.
“This violates my conscience. It causes me to feel uncomfortable when taking a shower, knowing there is no protection for me.” Letitia further noted how, despite voicing her concerns for her safety to prison officials, the matter was ignored and she was told, “there’s nothing [the authorities] can do about it unless something really happens to me.”
Letitia’s sentiment was echoed by another female inmate, who will be referred to as Kari.
“Men were brought to Shakopee, and us women were neither informed nor asked how we would feel about living with them,” Kari said, referring to a gender identity policy that was officially implemented in January of 2023.
“There are women here who have been assaulted by men, and may have PTSD because of it. We can’t go to staff and tell them how we feel about the situation because no one wants to discuss it. There are no locks on the bathroom door, so when taking a shower, I feel so unsafe,” Kari said.
“The first day that [Sirvio] moved in, I had an appointment with my mental health worker and I let her know why my anxiety was so high,” she said. “It makes me feel violated emotionally. She understood my concerns and said that she would feel the same way, knowing that they are violent and sex offenders … I just don’t understand why the DOC would put violent men and sex offenders around all these women. It’s sad that the staff doesn’t care about how we as women feel.”
Reduxx has seen communications from Sirvio wherein he explained that he first began to claim a transgender status approximately five years ago.
“I didn’t know too much about transgender stuff until then,” Sirvio said. “I always wanted to be a woman. I never was or am attracted to men, and I am open to things! I didn’t feel like a drag queen or a cross dresser and only found out about transgender stuff five years ago. I’ve been on hormones… and wearing women’s underclothes.”
The convicted killer commented that he had “anger issues” while incarcerated in the male facility MCF-Oak Park and “ended up hitting two [correctional officers]” with a pool stick, resulting in his transfer to USP Marion, in Illinois.
Sirvio also stated that his transfer into the women’s prison took place after he filed an application with the Minnesota Department of Corrections’ (DOC) Gender Identity Committee. However, according to an official announcement from the state, the gender identity policy was not set to take effect until April 1, 2024, whereas Sirvio was relocated to MCF-Shakopee in November 2023 – five months ahead of schedule.
He added that since he was moved into MCF-Shakopee, female prison staff, rather than male guards, are required to perform strip searches and pat downs on his person. This is done as a result of the new gender identity policy, which states, “pat and unclothed body searches of incarcerated people who are transgender, gender diverse, intersex, or nonbinary must be done in accordance with the gender of the facility in which they are assigned… Incarcerated people who are transgender, gender diverse, intersex, or nonbinary may request that they receive pat or unclothed body searches from security staff of a specific gender.”
As previously reported by Reduxx, there have been at least six male convicts transferred into MCF-Shakopee since 2023, half of whom are serving or have served sentences on charges related to the sexual abuse of children.
The prison policy was altered following a 2022 lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Corrections which ultimately resulted in the implementation of measures permitting male convicts to be housed in the female estate. The lawsuit, filed by trans activist non-profit organization Gender Justice – which was recently revealed to have received nearly $500,000 in taxpayer funds from the administration of Governor Tim Walz.
The discrimination claim was filed by the trans activist non-profit organization Gender Justice on behalf of Craig ‘Christina’ Lusk, who was serving a five-year sentence for the possession of methamphetamine at the Moose Lake correctional facility for men.
“I was uneasy when Lusk lived on my wing because [he] still had [his] male anatomy, was built like a line backer, had a horrible temper, and would verbalize that [he] ‘still had a working unit,’” one woman, known as Janice, told Reduxx in October. “Thankfully [he] was discharged this past year.”
“I definitely have my concerns and opinions about the male inmates being admitted into our facility, but like most inmates there is a fear of speaking up or voicing those concerns because of potential retaliation, or because people will think you are being discriminatory or judgemental,” said Janice.
Commenting on Lusk’s transfer last November, Aaron Swanum with the Minnesota DOC remarked, “Minnesota has now joined 10 other states and the District of Columbia in approving transfers to facilities matching an inmate’s gender identity. The DOC is committed to providing supportive and safe environments for people of all gender identities and our new policy reflects this commitment.”
Upon his release this year, Lusk was awarded a $495,000 payout. But Lusk’s ex-wife came forward last year to tell The Daily Mail that she believed he was a “scammer” and a “big fat liar.” The two were married in 2005, but Lusk’s wife filed for divorce in 2008 due to his heavy drinking and violent behavior.
Janice currently shares a unit with Elijah Thomas Berryman, 26, who was first arrested in April 2022 and accused of sexually abusing a minor multiple times. He pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in March of this year, and according to the Minnesota DOC website, is currently serving his 25-year sentence at the women’s prison.
Last week, Reduxx revealed that a man who was convicted of sexually abusing a six year-old girl was transferred into MCF-Shakopee, where he had exposed himself to one of the female inmates. Despite having repeatedly lied about his identity to law enforcement in a bid to evade the law, Daniel Patrick Benz was permitted to change his name to Danielle Marie Whitebird in June of 2023 after his petition was approved by the state of Minnesota.
In addition to the name change, Benz also was supplied with a “replacement birth record” which declared his sex as female, despite not having undergone any surgeries, according to his own legal complaints.
Reduxx would like to extend a special thanks to Hands of Hope Prison Ministry for facilitating the inmate communications for this report.
Notre Dame Reopens: Ancient Glory vs. Modern Disaster
After five years of hard work, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has finally risen from the ashes. A titanic task, which does justice to the extraordinary mobilisation and expertise of the French craftsmen and those who assisted them. But the ceremonies to reopen the building left us with mixed feelings.
Speaking as a Frenchwoman, as a Catholic, there are many reasons to rejoice at this achievement. Like millions of people around the world, my heart sank as I watched the magnificent nave being devoured by tongues of fire one evening in April 2019, just a few days before Easter, and then the roof structure giving way with a terrible crash. A strong feeling of irreparable loss gripped us all that evening, to the point where many tears flowed.
And yet. Notre-Dame de Paris was the strongest. At the end of an extraordinary construction project, France’s most famous cathedral has risen from the ashes. A thousand and one stories, each more moving and powerful than the last, have accompanied its fall and its resurrection. The story of the indifferent fireman who entered the burning building out of duty, only to emerge a believer, touched by grace. That of the firefighters’ chaplain who, at the risk of his life, took it upon himself to go and save the Crown of Thorns and the Blessed Sacrament. The carpenters who, as one man, asked for their axes to be blessed before they set about preparing the oaks for the carpentry.
There were also breathtaking images, so full of meaning in our grey, mystery-free world. The immortal shot of a ray of sunlight illuminating the altar amidst the rubble. These photos of the restored spire, taken with exaltation by Parisians as it rose once again into the Parisian sky—like the needle of a compass showing them the only direction worth following, that toward Heaven.
Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s: when many doubted, President Macron believed in it, and put all his authority in the balance (which goes to show that where there’s a will, there’s a way) to make it possible within these deadlines, at the price, thank God, of a certain number of adjustments of regulations and red tape to work, quickly and well. Confidence and enthusiasm are always there when the objective is noble and exhilarating. He entrusted the project to a worthy man, retired general Jean-Louis Georgelin, who died in 2023, unfortunately without having seen the end of this immense project. There have been enough thunderous failures since Macron took over as head of France for us not to give him a good mark, for once, on the Notre Dame restoration.
But the cathedral’s rehabilitation has also had its dark side, and the sordid stories are no less numerous than the high points.
The ludicrous discussions about the possible transformation of the building, with wild suggestions ranging from an integrated café-restaurant to a glass roof-top. The pettiness of the mayor, Anne Hidalgo, who, while not wanting to spend a penny on Notre Dame, has found a way of making the construction site pay a tax.
The torrents of hatred that poured down on the wealthy citizens who had generously put their hands in their pockets to finance the work.
À quelques jours de la réouverture de Notre-Dame, je n’oublierai jamais qu’alors que les familles Bettencourt-Meyers et Arnault faisaient chacune un don de 200 M€, #AnneHidalgo, toute honte bue, exigeait du chantier de restauration une redevance de 25,4 M€, avant d’y renoncer… pic.twitter.com/2PEyGhGN40
— Eric Klein (@EricKLein_) December 4, 2024
The questionable choices made, against the wishes of heritage protection associations, such as the removal of the stained glass windows by Viollet-le-Duc in favour of contemporary creations, stubbornly desired by the evil trio formed by Emmanuel Macron, his Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, and Archbishop Msgr. Ulrich.
The installation of hopelessly dysfunctional liturgical furnishings, devoid of all grace and meaning.
You might think that all that is now behind us, and that the only thing that matters is the reopening of the church and the resumption of worship, effective on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, on a beautiful and cold Sunday in December 2025. But the ceremonies held on December 7th and 8th remind us that nothing is won, and that much is irretrievably lost.
As a Frenchwoman, as a Catholic, I should be rejoicing, but my heart isn’t really in it. The restored Notre Dame is whiter than it has ever been. But with the soot that has been stripped from the stones, the repentance of men and the prayers accumulated within these walls over the centuries have been washed away to create a smooth, uneven face at the image of a hygienic modern world too proud of itself. A little of the soul of Notre Dame has gone.
And what about the opening ceremony?
With two days to go to celebrate the anniversary of the separation of Church and State, President Macron could not stop himself from speaking inside the cathedral, despite promises to the contrary. And his wife, Brigitte Macron, took communion with the archbishop, even though she lives with a man in a union that is anything but canonical, to say the least—all in a blissful unanimity maintained by a Church in France that no longer really knows where it stands.
The official festivities gave rise to gigantic nonsense, providing a formidable factory of memes on social media.
The liturgical vestments designed by high-profile fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac gave the impression that the ceremony was in the colours of Google or Microsoft Office, as the case may be—blithely trampling all over the liturgical calendar in the process. Many people who were not ‘traditionalists’ noticed this. ‘Trad’ abbots wearing white lace are to be blamed for their putative non-compliance with the directives of Vatican II, but anything goes for the official clergy, who do what they want, when they want.
Fr. Clément Barré commented on X:
Basically, the problem with this garment, beyond any aesthetic appreciation, is that it escapes the common language of the Catholic liturgy. For a Christian, it does not say what is being celebrated. Instead, it summons up another language, with other references, other meanings… that of the artist, who in effect silences the Church to speak for him. And we are summoned to enter into this new language, which does not belong to us.
The ceremony was sadly characterised by the omnipresence of ugliness. In the words of Cyrano de Bergerac’s father, the poet Edmond Rostand, “I thought I saw a long slug slide over a flower.” It is appalling to see the extent to which the modern church strives to present a repulsive image. Let’s make the best of it: it’s a formidable technique for bringing out the radiant beauty of the past.
It would seem that the French have had a problem with opening ceremonies. After the controversy surrounding the Olympic Games, the ceremony at Notre Dame was a huge missed opportunity to speak to the greatest number of people—so much so that the choice of mediocrity and ugliness is never likely to win over the crowds. The public was expected to flock to the building, but a storm blew in from Paris. As a result, many visitors stayed at home. If, like the ancient Romans, we like to read divine will in the signs of the weather, we could say that Heaven was—a little—annoyed at the way things had turned out and wanted to send a reminder.
The gaudy colours of the liturgical vestments speak only to a small caste of initiates satisfied that they have paid their dues to the prevailing progressivism. Another example: the musical programme. For a moment, a splendid Magnificat resounded under the vaults. But the ‘awakening’ ceremony for the organ disconcerted many. Made up of improvisation sequences on the majestic instrument, the vaults resounded with dissonant pieces in the purest vein of twentieth-century music, designed for aesthetes trapped in intellectualism. As amateur organist and editorialist Olivier Babeau humorously put it: “It’s been going on for 50 years. Time doesn’t help, it just won’t go away. And that’s a problem. If music is meant to uplift, it must speak to the senses. For many people, this kind of music is more likely to keep them away from the altar because it’s the stuff of pro-virtuoso musicians tired of harmonies.”
It would have been so simple to choose something harmonious that would appeal to the humble heart of the man in the street, who has often lost his way in the faith and just wants to be amazed. Too simple. Modernity has forgotten the old Racine adage: “The main rule is to please and to touch.”
The signal had been given from on high, by Pope Francis, who, by refusing to travel to Paris, failed to see what an extraordinary opportunity the reopening of Notre Dame provided to speak to as many people as possible, and who preferred to send a dull message when he could, by his presence, have bowed the knee to a multi-secular reality that is a reference point for millions of people throughout the world.
The party is ruined. I would have liked to be there, but the Notre Dame of December 7th is not quite mine. Fortunately, what remains is the inexorable power of those who conceived it, built it and supported it with their prayers. Its immense beauty continues to shine through beneath the garments of gaudy modernity with which it has been dressed. This Notre Dame is still standing, against all odds. I’m going to pay homage to her when the official din has died down. God save France!
Somali asylum seeker sentenced to 6 years for raping 14-year-old girl in Lower Austria
A Somali asylum seeker has been sentenced to six years in prison for the brutal rape of a 14-year-old girl at a train station in Langenzersdorf, Lower Austria.
The Korneuburg Regional Court delivered the verdict after hearing harrowing details of the attack and rejecting the defendant’s attempts to downplay the crime.
As reported by Kronen Zeitung, the assault took place on the night of Aug. 7 when the victim was on her way home, talking to her mother on the phone. The defendant, who was intoxicated, approached her at the station. After she ignored his advances, he later claimed he “felt like he had to rape her.” He dragged the girl between two vehicles in the station’s parking lot and attacked her. After the assault, he demanded her phone and money before fleeing the scene, leaving the girl lying on the ground.
During the trial, the defendant shocked the courtroom with his grin and statement, “I couldn’t hold back,” which he offered as a justification for his actions. When questioned, he described himself as having been drunk and wanting to “get to know her.”
He later attempted to express remorse, telling the court, “Everyone makes mistakes.” However, the judge firmly dismissed this, stating: “You’re talking about a mistake, but these are two capital crimes. Your confession is not genuine; it only comes because of overwhelming evidence.”
DNA traces found on the victim and at the crime scene, combined with surveillance footage, conclusively tied him to the crime.
Investigations uncovered that the defendant, who had been registered as a 17-year-old in Austria, had previously used seven different alias identities and birth years across various European countries. A forensic age analysis revealed he was at least 21 years old at the time of the attack, allowing him to be prosecuted as an adult under stricter laws.
The 14-year-old victim has been in therapy since the assault, working to process the emotional and psychological trauma. Her legal representatives stressed the severity of the attack, urging the court to impose the maximum sentence.
“This girl’s life has been permanently scarred by what happened that night,” her counsel said. “The court must ensure that the defendant faces the full consequences of his actions.”
The court sentenced the Somali national to six years in prison and ordered him to pay €2,500 in compensation to the victim.
“I have to react here with a severe punishment,” said the presiding judge, although some credit was given for his partial confession.
The judgment is final, as the defendant accepted his sentence without appeal.