Society of Saint Pius X Banned from Procession in Geneva

Communiqué from the Prior of St. Joseph Oratory

In 2022, the canton of Geneva refused all religious demonstrations: the Corpus Christi processions of the St. Claire parish, that of the St. Joseph Oratory, and the Evangelical Church of Cologny’s baptisms in the lake. 

The Legal Department of the Department of Security revealed its motivations in its justification to the cantonal court. The procession is shamefully described as an “aggressive demonstration,” and “symbolic” and “psychological” “violence” toward “atheists, [and] the LGBT community.”

The department also spoke of the “need for serious control over the values defended by religious organizations.” This is an anti-religious charge. Religion is a priori suspect.

Each year since 1993, the St. Joseph Oratory has been authorized to celebrate Corpus Christi with a procession. It is an important moment in Christian life along with Christmas and Easter. Processions express and share the Faith in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

The processions gather between 200 and 400 people, especially families with children, in a peaceful and dignified atmosphere. There has never been any incident. There has been no excessive noise, no dirtiness, and no disruption to businesses nor traffic. It was an expression of “Christian pride.”

Referring extensively to its decision from March 23, 2024, on baptisms in the lake, the Federal Supreme Court validates a “double standard” and rests on fragile and debatable assertions. It invokes “the Genevan conception of the relationship between Church and State” without further details and is satisfied with a “not untenable interpretation” of the law.

Moreover, the judicial opinion never addresses the difficulty posed by the declaration of commitment, which is a prerequisite for holding a public procession. However, this declaration is formulated in such a way that the freedom to express the positions of the Catholic Church on topics like abortion or homosexual acts are compromised. 

Additionally, the assertion of the primacy of the Swiss legal order, without precision nor nuance, eliminates in principle the possibility of religiously motivated civil disobedience, which has been, in other times, the only bulwark against all kinds of barbarism. Now, expressions of faith in the public sphere is possible only for those who have signed the aforementioned declaration of commitment.

Regardless of the doubts about this declaration of commitment, the St. Joseph Oratory will not accept being registered in Geneva as anything but Roman Catholic.

The new 2019 law on secularism, and its implementing regulation in 2020, have shaken up a previously peaceful situation. Initially presented as regulating purely administrative matters, the restrictive conditions for religious demonstrations were not known to the public when they voted on the law. The sincerity of their vote is therefore in question.

The campaign for the 2023 cantonal elections also made it possible to note in the debates a consensus against the ban on religious demonstrations. The law must be changed. Registration with the Swiss state must not determine the exercise of religious freedom.

The Federal Supreme Court has chosen to distort religious freedom in the name of Genevan secularism. It does not convey respect for religious freedom. Although dismayed, the St. Joseph Oratory takes note of this decision and will not appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Fr. Jean de Loÿe