The administrative court of appeal of Bordeaux has just confirmed the judgment of the administrative court of Poitiers which had ordered the displacement of a statue of the Virgin.
Installed at a crossroads on the domain of the municipality of La Flotte, on the island of Ré, justice considers that this building falls under the law of the separation of Churches and the State.
The Court of Appeal recognizes in its judgment that “the municipality had no intention of expressing a religious preference” but considers that “the statue itself presents a religious character.
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The statue of the Virgin Mary will have to leave its promontory, on the estate of the town of La Flotte, on the island of Ré (Charente-Maritime).
The administrative court of appeal of Bordeaux confirmed, in a judgment of January 12, the judgment of the administrative court of Poitiers which had canceled the decision of refusal of the mayor, to move a statue of the Virgin Mary located at a street intersection.
The Court of Appeal enjoins the municipality to this authority to remove it within six months.
In this judgment, the court considers "that the statue is on a public site within the meaning of the provisions of the article of law concerning the separation of the Churches and the State, since the ground of implantation of the building falls within the domain of the municipality.
However, these legislative provisions are opposed in principle to the installation, by public persons, of a sign or emblem showing the recognition of a cult or marking a religious preference in a public place”.
Rebuilt identically in 2020
It is already on this principle of separation of Churches and State that the administrative court of Poitiers had ordered the dismantling, in March 2022, of this statue.
The sculpture was made in 1945 for a family, after a father and son returned from World War II.
First exhibited in a private garden, it was then given to the municipality which installed it in 1983 on the public domain.
But the statue had been damaged in the spring of 2020, after being hit by a motorist.
The municipality then decided to rebuild it identically, in the same location.
It was then that an association, La Libre Pensée 17, took legal action to demand this withdrawal.
The Court of Appeal recognizes in its judgment that "the municipality had no intention of expressing a religious preference by installing it there in 2020 following the traffic accident which had damaged the original", however, she also notes “that the figure of the Virgin Mary is an important figure in the Christian religion, particularly Catholic, and that the statue itself presents a religious character”.
The building cannot therefore be considered in the same way as a statue of a king or Napoleon, as the mayor of the commune had argued during the hearing.
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