[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?

[Hermann the Cherusker]

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?

I'm sure there was, and Pope Pius XI complained later than he had been badly misinformed in certain respects. It is unfortunate that the Royalists hitched their star to Maurras, with all his problems, and his penchant for airing his opinions contrary to the Church in his paper. Still, the fact that the Vatican stuck up for a man like DeGrelle against his Bishop shows that it was hardly an animus towards rightist minded Catholics.