Church Caretaker Claims Dismissal Threat for Refusing to Remove Homeless from Nice Cathedral

"The priest wants to kick me out," says Christophe, 63 years old. "Kick out, kick out?" echoes Flora, one of his protégés. "He asked me: ’Chase the poor who are in front of the church’, I said: ’No, I don’t have the right, I have to help them,’" continues the former Muslim converted to Catholicism in 2013. Since then, he has been serving the Vœu church and obtained a permanent contract in 2020, reports Nice-matin. For him, the summons signed by Father Frédéric Sangès is a preliminary interview for a dismissal, scheduled for January 10. "But I haven’t done anything wrong, I’m honest... It’s as if I were a thief, as if they were putting a knife in my heart," defends Christophe in a mixed language [a language mixed with Arabic, French, Spanish and Italian, spoken in the Mediterranean basin] tinged with a Moroccan accent.

The sexagenarian receives the support of many faithful and his protégés. "He is someone who is involved and who holds the helm well: there are no excesses, the homeless are not there during the day. If that’s the reason for his summons, it’s incomprehensible and out of step," indignantly Sophie, an architect, who participates in the distribution of breakfasts every Thursday. "What does it mean to be a Christian today? I must have missed something," wonders Maria, who was at the meal for the destitute on New Year’s Eve, is "devastated."

"It’s true that a preliminary interview for dismissal is not usual in the Church, but there must be other reasons, I can’t believe it’s that," tempers a faithful.

Questioned, Father Frédéric Sangès assures that he has not decided to dismiss Christophe. "At no time have I said that I was going to kick him out, nor him, nor Flora, nor anyone else. I have nothing against the poor and migrants. Christophe is summoned so that I can listen to him, clarify certain points with him and find solutions. Don’t believe it doesn’t affect me, but we had to come to this. When we tell him things, he doesn’t hear. We are religious, of course, but I run the parish and I have to exercise a certain authority. We are in a state of law and we must remain in the state of law."

"A distinction must be made between volunteering and work. As parish priest, I have always tolerated Christophe’s volunteering, it is in his nature and it is very good, even if it is not professional, that he is a bit alone and that the parishioners do not have the skills to do this," he says, explaining that the Moroccan sexagenarian is not a sacristan as some say, but a factotum [a person who takes care of a little bit of everything and especially minor work; a real handyman, EDITOR’S NOTE]. He "is summoned for professional reasons and serious facts".