Attitude of the Catholic Church towards the Vichy regim

Following thesis deals with relationship between the Catholic Church and a regime established in a part of France during the Second World War. The purpose of the thesis is to analyse main origins of attitude of the Catholic Church towards Vichy France. This attitude is generally considered to be positive. The thesis examines this question only on level of episcopacy. Other levels of possible research are knowingly omitted because of a limited extent of this text. The author emphasizes three main problems of relationship between the Catholic Church and the Vichy regime. Firstly, the thesis focuses on the process of convergence of the Church and the state, secondly this congruity is confronted with moments of clash of opinion between these two elements. Finally, the last chapter deals with post-war situation in France which is connected with purification of the catholic hierarchy. Keywords Catholic Church, France, Vichy, World War II, resistance, collaboration, antisemitism, holocaust, Alfred Baudrillart, Pierre-Marie Gerlie