France in shock over murder of young convert and pro-life activist Quentin Deranque
The murder of 23-year-old pro-life activist and Catholic convert Quentin Deranque, allegedly at the hands of far-left activists, has shocked France.
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú
By Almudena Martínez-Bordiú
February 18, 2026 at 3:51 PM ET
The alleged murder at the hands of far-left activists of Quentin Deranque, a young Frenchman who had converted to Catholicism and was committed to pastoral life, has caused profound shock in France.
The 23-year-old died in a Lyon hospital on Feb. 14 after being brutally beaten two days earlier during a pro-Palestinian conference organized by the left-wing party La France Insoumise (“unbowed/defiant”) at the Lyon Institute of Political Studies.
Authorities are continuing to investigate in an attempt to identify those responsible for the attack, although initial hypotheses suggest that members of the so-called Young Guard, a group linked to the political organization that put on the event, may be involved. The event was hosted by a far-left member of the European Parliament, Rima Hassan.
The young man, a tennis enthusiast and a philosophy student known for his pro-life activism — according to his lawyer, Fabien Rajon — had attended the event intending to demonstrate peacefully alongside the Nemesis collective, founded in 2019 to defend the rights of women in the West against certain currents of contemporary feminism.
https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/europe/france-in-shock-over-murder-of-young-convert-and-pro-life-activist-quentin-deranque
