Jean-Marie Le Pen has been laid to rest in France. The Controversy Over His Legacy Continues.

Hundreds of mourners flocked to Paris’s venerable Val-de-Grâce cathedral on Thursday to pay their last respects to Jean-Marie Le Pen, the architect of France’s modern far-right movement who was known for his racist and xenophobic remarks.

The speaker at the request Mass praised Mr. Le Pen, we said, “had seen, before all others, the dangers that threaten France today.” The choir sang a French military song asking God for “the zeal to fight.” The crowd repeated the words of the prayer to Joan of Arc, and her plea that “the people of France will always be a Christian people.”

But since the death of Mr. This Pen in Jan. 7 at the age of 96, the question of how much respect he deserves in death has sparked a heated debate in France, given Mr. and his assertion that the German takeover of France was not “particularly barbaric.”

Questions about his legacy reflect wider, unresolved tensions with the party Mr Le Pen co-founded in 1972, National Rally. The party has in recent years moved from the fringes to the center of French politics and currently holds the majority of seats in the National Assembly.

Even though they have been successful recently, the leaders of the National Rally are always complaining that they are still there they are denied “respect” by other lawmakers, shut out of policy discussions and denied leadership positions.

Their age can be dull. In a TV interview earlier this week, François Rebsamen, regional planning minister and a leftist in the current center-right government, said, “I respect all political forces, except the National Rally.”

Earning respect has been high on the National Rally agenda over the years. Mr Le Pen’s daughter, Marine Le Pen, took over as party leader in 2011, and ousted Mr Le Pen. This Pen in 2015. Three years later, the party changed its name (it was originally called the National Front) as a faction. of an attempt to soften its image, distance itself from its father, and appeal to a wider base.

The movement helped. Millions of voters were drawn to its anti-immigrant stance and policies, as well as its populist economics. Its supporters hope that even Ms. Le Pen or his telegenic 29-year-old successor, Jordan Bardella, may end up winning the presidency.

But some memories last longer. On the night of Mr. Le Pen, French TV channels showed a crowd in the Place de la République in Paris, smiling and popping bottles of champagne. Similar street rallies broke out in Lyon, Marseille, and elsewhere.

“A racist is dead,” said the protester’s sign. “What a beautiful day.”

The revelers’ scenes have been criticized by members of the current government.

“Nothing, nothing, justifies dancing on a cadaver,” said the country’s interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, on social media.

Mr Le Pen’s death comes amid political turmoil in France. The economy is faltering, public debt is growing, and the National Assembly, the most powerful legislative house, is crippled by a three-way divide between left, center and right.

Last month, the government of former right-wing prime minister Michel Barnier collapsed after just three months, as members of the lower house, unable to agree on a budget, punished Mr. Barnier for trying to force someone to pass. The National Rally joined the left in bringing down the government of Mr. Barnier with a vote of no confidence. Disrespect was the main reason why they did so.

The successor of Mr. Barnier, François Bayrou, is no longer clinging to a government that could topple any day.

National Rally has yet to say what its next step will be. But if the members decide to vote again against the government it may kill the hopes of Mr. Bayrou residence instead.

Holding a public Mass for an old xenophobe could hurt the party in the short term. But Jean-Yves Camus, a right-wing expert at the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, said the party “could not do without organizing a public charge,” given Mr Le Pen’s position and history with the movement. “In a way, the group is a prisoner of its history.”

Georgios Samaras, an assistant professor of public policy at King’s College London, said the group will now be able to strengthen “its new, limited brand without constant reminders of Jean-Marie’s extreme stance.”

This service was focused on the love of Mr. Le Pen about France, and the fighting spirit he brought to politics and war itself, served in the French military in Indochina and Algeria.

“Yes, Mrs. Le Pen, you had a strong head, you had a bad name, but you had the soul of a musketeer, a soldier working for France,” said Christophe Kowalczyk, a military priest who presided over the ceremony, referring. in the words of an old military song.

After the Mass, the mourners left the church and the square facing it. They walked down the narrow Rue Saint-Jacques, holding their plans for the service and shaking hands with friends.

A multi-story college dormitory was above them. And from the windows came the usual war cry from the European left: “Look antifascisti!“- We are all anti-fascists.