Georges Bernanos Plea for Liberty Summary and Examination December 23, 2021

India Insight with Sunny Sharma

Plea for Liberty was published in 1944 during World War II. In this book, Bernanos makes a scathing criticism of the French bourgeoisie and hopes that free man and women will save Europe and open the door to childhood as he had done throughout his life. Bernanos famously said, "The modern state only recognizes rights, it no longer recognizes duty."
Bernanos felt in his heart that the power of heroism, faith, and childhood once consecrated by the church would once again come about and defeat the evils of materialism and profit that so many citizens, writers, and social reformers rallied against in history and the 20th century. He also believed the elites failed the French people as they disguised themselves as men of wisdom and doctors of Christian ethics. Bernanos never loses faith that the people would smash the pedestal on which profit lays and would find real principles to stand upon which most people fake.
What does it really mean to give power to the people? How have the elites failed Europe and how can this be remedied?
Which country will become the inheritor of Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality?
Bernanos always believed that spiritual forces would take precedent to social, political, and cultural ones. So, as a monarchist, he envisioned a spirited young prince and king reviving the spiritual principles of Europe and bringing about a restoration of the honor of honor.
Final ideas on the saints and heroes in Letter to the Europeans:
1. "We must become unconditioned by materiality to recognize our true divinity as free men, of men of love."
2. "We must also understand the legitimacy on which our rights are based."