A French “anti-hate” website claiming to catalogue far-right symbols has listed several mainstream Roman Catholic symbols, including crosses and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, alongside well-known Nazi devices.

The French “anti-hate” website Indextreme claims that it is looking to “observe, catalogue and publicize the graphic symbols used by the far right in France.” Not all the symbols displayed have fascist or far-right origins, but they believe they have now been appropriated by far-right groups, the website adds.

However, in addition to the symbols of Nazism and other far-right ideologies, they list several Christian, Roman Catholic symbols.

The project, which was created by graphic designer Geoffrey Dorne and photojournalist Ricardo Parreira and has been promoted by the leftist French website StreetPress, lists many symbols broken up into various categories from phrases to animals, flags, gestures, numbers, and crosses.

In the section on crosses, the Jerusalem Cross, a Christian symbol for the city of Jerusalem and a cross shaped to commemorate the five holy wounds of Jesus, is in the same category as the Nazi swastika.

Another symbol included in the category is the Cross of Burgundy, also known as the St Andrew’s cross, which is a cross made of beams assembled in the shape of an X. Tradition has it that St Andrew was crucified on such a cross, thus it has a long history in the Catholic tradition.

The so-called Cross Pattee is also featured in the list. It has several variations, including the Maltese cross, whose 8 points represent the 8 blessings.

The Cross of Lorraine, also known as the double cross, which is seen on the coats of arms of Slovakia and Hungary, is also in the same category as the Nazi swastika.

The shorter, horizontal upper stem of the double cross represents the inscription on the cross, which Pilate had placed above the head of Christ. During the Second World War, it was also used by the anti-Nazi Free France led by General Charles De Gaulle, who fought the Nazi regime along with the Allies.

The inclusion of the Cross of Lorraine echoes another “anti-hate” school booklet released last year in Canada by the Canadian government-funded far-left Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN), which has also been alleged to have ties to Antifa, Breitbart points out.

Indextreme says that the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a major symbol of the Catholic church that represents the love of God for mankind, is also linked to the far-right, as well as the early Christian Chi Rho symbol, which consists of the Greek initials of the name of Christ.

The listings of Indextreme have caused outrage among many, including Renaud Muselier, President of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region in France. He wrote on Twitter:

To put the Cross of Lorraine and the swastika in the same category is an intolerable manipulation of history.

Mettre sur le même plan la Croix de Lorraine et la svastika est une manipulation insupportable de l’Histoire.

L’Amiral Muselier, mon grand-père, a donné la Croix de Lorraine á la France Libre, et a été le 1er officier général á le rejoindre á Londres.

L’indignité est totale. https://t.co/BfwmU5OhJU pic.twitter.com/EVF7LNIoXL

— Renaud Muselier (@RenaudMuselier) January 5, 2023

The site has also been criticised on social media. The French left is anti-Catholic, a user opined, while another wrote that “Indextreme, full of lunatics, does not endorse any symbols, flags or religions associated with Europe. Imagine that all Scandinavian flags (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, even Finland) are fascist. And even the animals…”