Religion: Centuries-old tensions between French secularists and Catholics, revived by the death of Pope John Paul II, were sharpened yesterday by an intervention by the interior minister, Dominique de Villepin.
He sent a telegram to all prefects, who are the representatives of the central government across France, ordering them to lower flags on all public buildings again on Friday to coincide with the Pope's funeral in Rome. He also ordered the officials to "attend services organised in (their) department by the ecclesiastical authority in the memory of His Holiness".
Mr de Villepin was one of six government ministers who accompanied Mr Chirac and prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and their wives to a Mass for John Paul II at Notre Dame Cathedral on Sunday. Bertrand Delanoe, Paris's socialist mayor, pointedly did not attend.
Official French reaction to the death of the Pope has seen President Chirac, the government and public service television being accused by socialist and green politicians and secular groups of what the French are terming papolatrie - pope-worship, in effect.
France last year banned the wearing of religious symbols in state schools, saying that secularism was the foundation of the republic.
In response to an outcry over flags flown at half-mast on government ministries, the prime minister's office said that the measure was customary for "heads of state who enjoyed privileged relations with France". Why then, opponents asked, were flags not lowered on the death of King Hassan II of Morocco?
Secular viewers accuse the main television networks - TF1, France 2 and France 3 - of overdoing their coverage of the Pope's death. The stations have received record numbers of complaints about the amount of time devoted to the Pope.