PARIS (LifeSiteNews) — The first prelate ever to take part in the March for Life in France is the former bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, who was latterly placed under a Vatican visitation by Pope Francis over matters related to the Traditional Latin Mass and priestly ordinations.
On January 18, at Place Vauban in Paris, near the Hôtel des Invalides, for France’s annual March for Life, Bishop Dominique Rey delivered a public address as the sole representative of the French episcopate in the presence of 10,000 participants, including many young people.
“When life is no longer regarded as inviolable, freedom turns into a lie,” because society then claims the “power to decide who has the right to live and who deserves to die,” Rey told the crowds.
During his speech, Rey voiced strong criticism of the French political debate in favor of euthanasia. The March for Life occurred just days before a scheduled debate in the French Senate on proposed “end-of-life” legislation that would expand access to euthanasia and assisted suicide, following a pattern also widespread in many European countries, including Italy. This convergence of events gave the 2026 French March for Life heightened significance.
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In his address, Rey critiqued the current French legislative trajectory regarding abortion and euthanasia. Referring to the constitutional protection of abortion and the Senate debate on assisted death, he warned that France is witnessing “a major anthropological rupture” marked by “the repeated denial of the primacy of life” and by the “negation of the commandment: You shall not kill.”
According to Rey, abortion and euthanasia amount to “a subversion of the foundations of law, which is meant to protect the dignity of life,” adding that “the legal order seeks to eradicate what is legitimate and grounded in human nature.” He also denounced what he called “a distortion of the medical profession’s mission,” stating that physicians are being asked not to care for life, but to give death, despite the existence of “promising alternatives that allow for major therapeutic advances for people at the end of life, such as palliative care.”
Rey repeatedly returned to the theme of freedom, arguing that contemporary discourse empties it of its true meaning. When the word “freedom” is used to justify abortion, euthanasia, or transgenderism, it “turns into a metaphysics, even a dictatorship,” he said, adding that “when life is no longer sacred,” this is because society claims “the right to sacrifice it.”
He warned that presenting abortion and euthanasia under the banner of rights and compassion conceals what he called “a lie” that “hides and disguises the scandal to make it acceptable,” particularly through expressions such as “aid in dying with dignity,” which he said in fact “renounce help in living.”
Rey concluded that “every attack on life opens the door to a transgressive, eugenic, and selective logic that threatens to dehumanize our societies,” insisting that history shows that “where life ceases to be inviolable, man ceases to be free.”
Participants, many of whom were young Catholics, carried banners with slogans such as “Treat and support, never suppress,” and processed peacefully through the streets of the French capital. Organizers estimated the average age of attendees to be around 20 years old, noting a strong presence of students, young families, and first-time demonstrators.
Despite no promotion by the French Catholic Church and minimal national media coverage, attendance reached several thousand.
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Several women spoke publicly during the event about their personal experiences with abortion. Among them was Emilie Quinson, who has previously addressed the European Parliament regarding abortion policy.
Bishop Rey is currently retired and has been placed under a Vatican-appointed commissioner following decisions by Pope Francis related to governance issues in his former diocese, including concerns connected to the Traditional liturgy and what Vatican authorities described as “unusually high numbers of priestly vocations.”
The March for Life took place in a particularly sensitive legislative context. In March 2024, France amended its constitution to include abortion as a protected right, a decision that marked a historic shift in the country’s legal framework.
