Editing Marcel Lefebvre (section)

=== Background ===
Lefebvre belonged to an identifiable strand of right-wing political and religious opinion in French society that originated among the defeated royalists after the 1789 [[French Revolution]]. Lefebvre's political and theological outlook mirrored that of a significant number of conservative members of French society under the [[French Third Republic]] (1870–1940). The Third Republic was reft by conflicts between the secular Left and the Catholic Right, with many individuals on both sides espousing distinctly radical positions (see, for example, the article on the famous [[Dreyfus affair]]). Thus it has been said that "Lefebvre was... a man formed by the bitter hatreds that defined the battle lines in French society and culture from the French Revolution to the [[Vichy France|Vichy]] regime".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/did-pope-heal-or-deepen-catholic-schism-78423|title=Did the Pope Heal or Deepen a Catholic Schism?|website=[[Newsweek]]|date=25 January 2009}}</ref>

Lefebvre's first biographer, the English traditionalist writer [[Michael Davies (Catholic writer)|Michael Davies]], wrote in the first volume of his ''Apologia Pro Marcel Lefebvre'':<ref name="Davies13">{{harnvb|Davies|1980|loc=[http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Archbishop-Lefebvre/Apologia/Vol_one/Chapter_13.htm Chapter 13]}}</ref>
{{blockquote|In France political feeling tends to be more polarized, more extreme, and far more deeply felt than in England. It can only be understood in the light of the French Revolution and subsequent history... At the risk of a serious over-simplification, it is reasonable to state that up to the Second World War Catholicism in France tended to be identified with right-wing politics and anti-Catholicism with the left... [Lefebvre's] own alleged right-wing political philosophy is nothing more than straight-forward Catholic social teaching as expounded by the Popes for a century or more...}}

In similar vein, the pro-SSPX English priest Michael Crowdy wrote, in his preface to his translation of Lefebvre's ''Open Letter to Confused Catholics'':<ref>{{harvnb|Lefebvre|1987}}</ref>
{{blockquote|We must remember that Lefebvre is writing against the background of France, where ideas are generally more clear‑cut than they are in Great Britain.&nbsp;... Take the word "socialism", for example; that means to some of us, first and foremost, a social ideal of brotherhood and justice. We have had our [[Christian socialism|Christian socialists]]. On the Continent, however, Socialism is uncompromisingly anti‑religious, or almost a substitute for religion, and Communism is seen as the natural development from it. This is the Socialism the Archbishop is writing about. And when he rejects Liberalism, he is not thinking of the [British] [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]]&nbsp;... but of that religious liberalism that exalts human liberty above the claims of God or of His Church&nbsp;...}}