The French Ministry of the Armed Forces has launched an official investigation into the admissions practices of prestigious military high schools, following reports that candidates from independent Catholic schools were being systematically excluded. The scandal, first reported by Le Figaro, centers on institutions such as the Prytanée de la Flèche, which serves as a primary pipeline for elite officer training colleges like Saint-Cyr.
Investigations revealed that these military institutions had included enrollment in non-state-funded schools as an exclusionary criterion in their internal selection reports. According to the reporting, the policy impacted students from traditionalist Catholic institutions, including those affiliated with the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest and the Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X. Similar practices were identified at military schools in Autun and Aix-en-Provence.
The legal advocacy group Créer son école, representing affected families, challenged the decision, prompting the Ministry to review the admissions criteria. While the Ministry initially characterized the exclusions as isolated decisions, it later described the systematic rejection of these students as “totally unacceptable” and pledged to implement disciplinary measures.
This incident has drawn comparisons in French media to the historical Affaire des fiches, a 20th-century political scandal involving the monitoring of military officers’ religious practices. Observers note that the controversy arrives at a time when the French military is struggling to maintain recruitment levels, raising questions about the institutional impact of alienating demographics that have historically provided a steady pipeline of officer candidates.