Cité catholique

The Cité Catholique is a Traditionalist Catholic organisation created in 1946 by Jean Ousset, originally a follower of Charles Maurras (founder of the monarchist Action Française in 1899) and Jean Masson (1910–1965), not to be confused (as F. Venner did) with Jacques Desoubrie, who also used the pseudonym Jean Masson. Despite the presence of Roman Catholic clergy in some of its meetings, the Cité catholique is not officially recognised by the Roman Catholic Church.

It first took the name of Œuvres de la Cité Catholique (Works of the Catholic City) and then of Office international des œuvres de formation civique et d'action culturelle selon le droit naturel et chrétien (ICTUS, International Office of Works of Civic Formation and Cultural Action According to Natural Christian Law) before being known under the name Cité Catholique. It is now presided by Jacques Trémollet de Villers, a former associate of the far-right politician Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour and former defence attorney for accused war criminal Paul Touvier. The Cité catholique also helped found in 1971 the pro-life NGO Laissez-les-vivre. Jean-Paul Bolufer, a former alumnus of the ENA and who was the chief of staff of Christine Boutin, Minister of Housing and the City, before being forced to resign, and close to the Opus Dei, was trained by Cité catholique.