[Hermann the Cherusker]

One thing I'll say for him: he did lift the foolish condemnation of the French monarchist group Action Française which Pius XI had imposed.

It was not foolish. Maurras was an atheist who wished to use the Church for his own ends. Compare his and his movement's fate to that of the faithful Leon DeGrelle and the Christus Rex Party in Belgium, which was defended by the Vatican.

[royalcello]

That may be, but I don't see how the fact that Maurras was not (at that time) a Catholic and had ulterior motives for his pro-Catholic position justified essentially forcing ordinary, loyal French Catholics to abandon royalism (the Action Francaise being as far as I know "the only game in town" at that time). French monarchism has never recovered from that blow. Surely there must have been a less drastic way to deal with the situation?