Former Femen activist apologizes for desecrating Notre Dame in 2013 protest against church, pope

PARIS (OSV News) — A decade ago, Marguerite Stern entered Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, screaming and topless, to demonstrate her hatred of the church and the pope. In a gesture of repentance, she has now apologized to Catholics for her actions.

In an interview with OSV News, Stern said that the Catholic tradition soothes, bringing people together, and that her past gesture was one of “damaging a part of France, and therefore a part of myself.”

“I love Notre Dame Cathedral,” she told OSV News Nov. 21.

Stern had made a name for herself up until 2015, with her high-profile provocative interventions in France, Tunisia and Morocco, intending to convey messages of radical feminism, including opposition to religion and the fight against homophobia.

As part of the Femen movement, with Ukrainian origin, she stormed Notre Dame Feb. 12, 2013, a day after Pope Benedict XVI resigned from the papacy, and with eight other women, displayed slogans such as “Pope No More” and “Get lost, homophobe” on their bare torsos.

They had struck and rung new bells commissioned to mark the cathedral’s 850th anniversary, displayed in the nave and waiting to be assembled at the top of the towers. Stern’s aim was to protest against the Catholic Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage, which was about to be legalized in France.

But Stern has since distanced herself from some of Femen’s battles, and in particular from the activism of “trans women.” She now considers transgender ideology to be harmful. She openly opposes it, arousing the open hostility of the circles that promote it.

Stern is also much more benevolent toward the Catholic Church today. “I was a young 22-year-old at the time,” she told OSV News. “I was revolted by the sexual harassment I frequently experienced on the street. I felt I had to react and defend myself, rather than suffer in silence. It was this desire to act and find ways of making myself heard that prompted me to join Femen,” she said.

“I was very opposed to anything religious at the time,” she explained. “By entering Notre Dame, I wanted to express my satisfaction that the Catholic Church had lost ground in its opposition to the ‘marriage for all’ law that was about to be passed in (France). The day before, Pope Benedict XVI had announced his resignation, which I perceived as confirming this failure,” Stern told OSV News.

“Today, my convictions and sensibility have evolved,” Stern said. “I have come to realize that transgenderism is a matter of death drive and self-hatred, that destroys not only individuals, but our entire civilization, in other words the entire culture that unites us, in France,” she said.

“I found myself very much on my own, evolving in my convictions,” Stern added. “I then realized that my country is ultimately my only deep anchorage, but that its civilization is today in danger, and that we must fight to preserve it.”

Stern told OSV News, “We cannot constantly recreate everything and reject the past just because it is imperfect. Today, I consider myself a ‘conservative feminist.'”

On Sept. 27, Stern attended the funeral Mass for the young Philippine de Carlan, who was found murdered in Bois de Boulogne, or the Boulogne Forest, in Paris Sept. 21, minutes after she walked out of her university classes. “I was very moved by this farewell Mass, in Versailles Cathedral, because I felt fully integrated into the (Catholic) rites, which I found beautiful, and in which I recognized myself,” Stern told OSV News.

“These rites of the Catholic Church have shaped the history, architecture and mores of France,” Stern explained. “They soothe and bring people together. Rejecting them and entering Notre Dame de Paris screaming was a way of damaging a part of France, and therefore a part of myself. In France, we have this beautiful Christian heritage which is part of ourselves. We absolutely have to save it.”

“It is easy and fashionable right now to denigrate and even trample on Catholics as I did for years, perhaps because of the culture of forgiveness they have,” Stern pointed out.

“I contributed to reinforcing this climate in France. I sincerely apologize for that, to those I hurt,” she told OSV News, repeating what she said in a much-publicized Oct. 31 video.

“I love Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,” Stern added. “I was upset that I was not in Paris on the night of the fire, and that I could not get there. The next day, I went to cry in a church.”

“But it happens that one loves badly,” Stern concluded. “Today, I am in awe when I walk into a church, seeing the faith of the believers. I would like to say to everyone: ‘Let’s look at the beauty of what Catholics live, and stop spitting on them, even if we do not believe in it!'”

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