The John-Henry Westen Show - October 24, 2025


Is Russia the Future of Christian Europe？


Episode Stats


Length

21 minutes

Words per minute

148.90744

Word count

3,271

Sentence count

279

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Hate speech

11

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Fabrice Sorlin is a French Catholic living in Russia with 10 children. He is originally from France and has lived in Russia for the past 10 years. In this episode, he talks about his life in Russia and why he decided to move there.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Russia must convert. Of course, they will. Because the big problem now that we have is the problem with the Vatican.
00:00:11.000 Hey, my friends, we are here in Nizhny Novgorod in Russia.
00:00:15.000 And I have the great opportunity to speak to a bunch of people, as you already met Joseph Schutzmann.
00:00:21.000 But we also have Fabrice Sorlin.
00:00:24.000 He is a Frenchman living here in Russia with 10 children.
00:00:31.000 And I want to talk to him about that, Fabrice. Thank you for joining us.
00:00:34.000 God bless you.
00:00:35.000 Thank you very much, John, for your invitation.
00:00:37.000 Let me figure this out. You are originally from France. You are a traditional Catholic.
00:00:42.000 You have 10 children and you've been living in Russia for a decade.
00:00:48.000 Yeah, for 10 years.
00:00:50.000 So, many people back home would say, that's not possible because Russia is hostile to Catholics.
00:00:58.000 Phil, why would you do this? And is this working for you? And what is this like?
00:01:04.000 Yeah, so I decided to move on in 2015 with my whole family. At that time, my wife was pregnant with our seventh children.
00:01:13.000 And then we had three more in Russia. At the end, six children born in France and four in Russia.
00:01:21.000 You know, when I was in France, I'm a French patriot, Catholic traditionalist.
00:01:26.000 And I used to make a lot of politics to defend the traditional values in France,
00:01:30.000 fight for my country against liberalism, against LGBT ideology and so on.
00:01:36.000 I had many problems in France, a lot of problems. I was persecuted very heavily.
00:01:42.000 I lost my job. I lost my home. I lost everything because of the attacks of liberals and all the mainstream media.
00:01:51.000 It was a terrible time. But in the same way, because I do politics for a long time, I understood very soon
00:01:59.000 that France and Russia must be strong together, must have a good relationship.
00:02:07.000 And I had already many contacts in Russia. And after I was persecuted in France,
00:02:13.000 I decided to visit Russia one time with my wife and some of my children.
00:02:20.000 And we went there. We had discussions with a lot of people. I went to Douma, to the state Douma in Moscow.
00:02:27.000 And I understood at that time, the very first time when I came in Moscow, it was in 2013,
00:02:37.000 I understood that Russia will be the future of the Christian Europe. 0.96
00:02:43.000 Because all what my country, France, which used to be a Catholic country,
00:02:50.000 all what we lose, all what our different governments were fighting against,
00:02:57.000 I mean the traditional values. When I spoke with high ranking people here in Russia,
00:03:04.000 I understood that Russia is still on the way to defend the great value, the traditional way of life.
00:03:16.000 And when I went back to France, we decided with my wife that soon or late we will have to move in Russia.
00:03:25.000 And this is what we finally did. And I can tell you something.
00:03:29.000 I never regret this choice because for the education of my children,
00:03:33.000 which is the most important thing for me as a father,
00:03:37.000 I want, you know, not only give the opportunity to my children to have a good diploma
00:03:43.000 and to make a good job, I want to save their soul.
00:03:47.000 This is the most important thing for me.
00:03:49.000 And here in Russia, this is the country where, you know, you can educate your children
00:03:57.000 as my grandfather, grand-grandfather used to do in France.
00:04:02.000 But it's so complicated now in Western countries to do that.
00:04:06.000 And so I decided to move. It was a huge decision, of course,
00:04:14.000 because I have a lot of relatives in France.
00:04:16.000 I have my parents, I have my brother and sister.
00:04:19.000 My wife has also lots of brothers and sisters.
00:04:23.000 And we decided to quit France and our relatives and friends to go in Russia.
00:04:29.000 Of course, we're going back France at least one a year to visit our relatives
00:04:33.000 because family is very important.
00:04:35.000 But I feel better here, you know, you understand.
00:04:38.000 I feel very, very good in this country because I know that it could shock a lot of people.
00:04:45.000 But I will tell you, I can tell that it is the country of freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of religious.
00:04:53.000 I'm Catholic traditionalist. I do have mass every Sunday with the society.
00:04:59.000 They have a small, very small chapel. Unfortunately, too small.
00:05:04.000 I decided, you know, to put my children in a Russian school.
00:05:08.000 And when I put my children in this Russian school, I am not worried about what the teachers are going to teach my children.
00:05:17.000 Because this is a country where men are men and women are women. 0.76
00:05:21.000 In France, you remember maybe La Maniche Pour Tous? It was in 2012.
00:05:26.000 Yes, I was there.
00:05:27.000 Yeah, you were there. So probably we met on the streets, but we were more than one million.
00:05:32.000 It was the very moment in France where the government decided, you know, to put and to teach to the very young children,
00:05:40.000 six years old children, transgenderism, wokeism, and so on.
00:05:47.000 And for me, it was, you know, the red line that I didn't want to cross.
00:05:52.000 And this is why also we decided to move.
00:05:55.000 Back home, there's still an impression that Russia is really secretly communist.
00:06:01.000 What have you got to say about that to people? I mean, it's hard to imagine because they're having traditional values in the school,
00:06:09.000 where ours is the opposite. And we have to admit that. I think the West needs to be frank about their own situation.
00:06:15.000 It's terrible. Your children are indoctrinated. We try everything to stop them from being so.
00:06:20.000 But, you know, you get that anyway. But your experience here has been completely different.
00:06:26.000 You were speaking about communism in Russia. This is very interesting because, yes, Russia used to be communist.
00:06:33.000 It's not communist anymore. And even there is still a communist party in Russia.
00:06:40.000 But it's very few people who are voting for them. And I can tell you something.
00:06:45.000 The communist party in Russia is much more conservative than any nationalist, patriotic party that we have in France.
00:06:55.000 For example, in France, the so-called patriotic party, political party, they are pro-abortion.
00:07:03.000 They are now, they decided to say, OK, for gay wedding, no problem. We accept that.
00:07:10.000 And that's true in America, too. The American Republican Party is officially pro-gay marriage. 0.89
00:07:16.000 You know, they've thrown out now all of their... Because even under Trump, they did these things.
00:07:23.000 They want to protect and defend. And Canada is much worse.
00:07:26.000 Our conservatives are pro-abortion, pro-trans. They're pro-everything.
00:07:30.000 The trans, that might be one place of movement for people. But that's it. It's unbelievable.
00:07:35.000 It is unbelievable. And you know, even if in Russia, nothing is perfect, of course.
00:07:40.000 And there are still some problems with abortion, with GPA and something like that.
00:07:46.000 But what is interesting for me, it is a trend. You know, the trend in Western countries is going worse and worse.
00:07:53.000 Yeah.
00:07:54.000 The trend here in Russia is that the conservative point of view, the conservative values are going stronger and stronger month after month, year after year.
00:08:04.000 And this is very interesting to say that it became even more conservative after the beginning of the special operation.
00:08:12.000 You're Catholic. And that's very interesting for people around the world because Russia is a big deal for Catholics.
00:08:19.000 We've been praying for Russia for over 100 years. A lot of people said, oh, you know, with the consecration in 84 that John Paul did, Russia converted.
00:08:28.000 They say it was the consecration. And maybe that's why Russia is getting better. Those who believe that Russia is getting better. 0.65
00:08:33.000 And others say, no, it wasn't done. And I know from the faith, and I think all Catholics know, Russia has a very bright future.
00:08:39.000 It will be the country that will, in my take of it anyway, will be one that brings the devotion to Our Lady, to the whole world.
00:08:47.000 I don't know what you might think and others might think, but where do you think that's at?
00:08:51.000 Because that's a really neat thing that is coming.
00:08:55.000 It's the first time I'm here. I was here in 2014, and it was okay-ish, but things have gotten much, much better.
00:09:02.000 And not just, you know, the idea of a Potemkin village. People said, oh, they're going to roll out to you and show.
00:09:09.000 Well, actually, the more you look here, the more you see. It's incredible. And they've made a Potemkin country, maybe. I don't know. 0.96
00:09:17.000 I was speaking at the beginning about the fact that I immediately, when I came in Russia for the first time,
00:09:25.000 that I understood that Russia would be the future of the Christian Europe. 0.73
00:09:30.000 I was speaking about the political point of view, but you know, as you said, and as I told you, I am a traditional Catholic.
00:09:37.000 So I prayed for Russia for a long, long time, because of Notre Dame of Fatima, you know.
00:09:44.000 And if I'm speaking now more about religious point of view, and this is very interesting to see that religious and politics are going on the same point.
00:09:55.000 Of course, Russia will be also the future of all the Western Christian countries because of Fatima. 0.96
00:10:04.000 Russia must convert. Of course, they will. 1.00
00:10:08.000 But first, above everything, we need to understand that for that happen, we first need in Catholic religious to convert ourselves.
00:10:19.000 Because the big problem now that we have is the problem with Vatican.
00:10:25.000 We have many opportunities to make the consecration of Russia to the Holy Heart of the Holy Mother of God.
00:10:35.000 And this is why I'm used to say to my Orthodox friends that, of course, I'm Catholic, you know, but we have many problems to solve also.
00:10:43.000 It seems like one day, if things come together, the Russians might very well help the church get the faith right, too,
00:10:51.000 because we seem to struggle in the very areas that they get right.
00:10:55.000 The most repeated phrase in scripture is do not be afraid.
00:11:00.000 We are called to speak the truth, to proclaim the gospel, and to live our lives without fear.
00:11:06.000 For the past three years, we've brought this mission to the very heart of the church.
00:11:11.000 At the Rome Life Forum, you won't just hear truth proclaimed.
00:11:15.000 You'll have the chance to ask your questions directly to the speakers.
00:11:19.000 This is your opportunity to engage, to challenge, and to go deeper into the battles we face today.
00:11:26.000 Fear not. Her immaculate heart will triumph.
00:11:31.000 Everybody thinks the popular thought in America is that, you know, the war started, Russia started the war in 2022.
00:11:43.000 But you've got a different story.
00:11:44.000 The truth is totally different.
00:11:46.000 I mean, it's not about my story.
00:11:48.000 It is all about truth.
00:11:50.000 I started to go in Donbass for humanitarian mission on 2017, first time.
00:11:57.000 So it was three years after the coup in Maidan, which held in 2014.
00:12:02.000 For those who don't know, tell them. What's the coup in Maidan?
00:12:05.000 The president of Ukraine at that time was Yanukovych.
00:12:09.000 And Yanukovych was elected.
00:12:11.000 Nobody said anything against him in France, America.
00:12:15.000 They were all like, okay, he was regularly elected. No problem.
00:12:20.000 But because Yanukovych decided not to join European Union and Western countries, but to be more close with Russia,
00:12:29.000 people from West, I would say this deep state of America and deep state of France and some other countries,
00:12:37.000 decided to create this coup in Ukraine.
00:12:41.000 And I remember that, for example, Victoria Nuland was there to support the demonstrator.
00:12:48.000 In France, some very powerful people like Bernard-Henri Lévy, who went there to support the demonstrator.
00:12:56.000 And you know what shocked me at that time?
00:12:59.000 When these people were in this Maidan, Maidan is the biggest place in the Klochad place, yes, in Kiev.
00:13:08.000 And all the color revolution held in this place.
00:13:12.000 And Victoria Nuland, Bernard-Henri Lévy and some other Western people were speaking in front of very, very radical people,
00:13:24.000 which were really Nazi, with the sign SS on their helmet.
00:13:33.000 And no problem for them to do that.
00:13:35.000 They were supporting these people against the democratic elected president.
00:13:41.000 And this was very violent because Western countries supported them.
00:13:47.000 They gave them weapons, they gave them money, they gave them a trainer, everything.
00:13:52.000 And then Yanukovych was obliged to flee away.
00:13:56.000 And when the new one came, the new president, he immediately started to persecute people, Russified people. 0.99
00:14:04.000 And you know that Ukraine used to be Russia.
00:14:09.000 I mean, I'm not going to go inside the history because it could be very long.
00:14:15.000 But Ukraine, all the east part of Ukraine, the people are speaking Russian.
00:14:22.000 This is their native speaking.
00:14:24.000 And the new president decided that from day to day, he signed a decree and he said now it's forbidden in Ukraine to speak Russian.
00:14:33.000 Could you imagine that if someone told me, oh, if I were in France, you are not allowed now to speak any more French?
00:14:41.000 No.
00:14:42.000 No, you live here in Russia and you're not forbidden from speaking French.
00:14:46.000 And you're here.
00:14:47.000 So I would say no.
00:14:48.000 Are you crazy, man?
00:14:49.000 My parents speak French.
00:14:51.000 My grandparents speak French.
00:14:53.000 I will still speak French.
00:14:55.000 And these people, because they said, no, this is our roots.
00:14:58.000 This is our culture, our civilization.
00:15:01.000 We want to be what we are.
00:15:03.000 So we are going to speak Russian.
00:15:06.000 And they started to bomb them, to slaughter them.
00:15:11.000 And then these people started to organize themselves into militias to defend and to protect the family, as any man has to do.
00:15:24.000 I mean, if I wear them, I would have done the same, you know, to protect my wife and my children.
00:15:29.000 The front line started to happen in the east part, in Donbass.
00:15:33.000 And at that time already, the Western country was supporting the Kiev army.
00:15:39.000 And they started to bomb every single day, the civilian people in Donbass.
00:15:44.000 And when I came the first time in 2017, I saw that with my eyes.
00:15:50.000 It's not like I read it on the newspaper.
00:15:53.000 I saw many families who their house were bombed, destroyed, totally destroyed, children killed.
00:16:01.000 And there were thousands of people who died because of this bombing from 2014 to 2022, when the special operation started.
00:16:12.000 So it's totally false to say that Russia wanted to invite Ukraine to take more territory.
00:16:21.000 Remember that Russia agreed to sign Minsk 2 agreement was supposed to just get more independence from Donbass.
00:16:34.000 But they would stay inside the country of Ukraine. 0.82
00:16:39.000 And they could still speak Russian.
00:16:42.000 But because the Kiev government didn't respect this agreement and still continuing to bomb Donbass,
00:16:53.000 at the end of the day, Russia was obliged to defend the civilian people.
00:16:57.000 Because I would like to remember that not few people died from 2014 to 2022, but thousands of people.
00:17:06.000 And I saw it because I went on the front line.
00:17:09.000 I saw the house totally destroyed.
00:17:12.000 And we were paying some apartment from some poor family, which has the house totally destroyed.
00:17:19.000 And to take them outside the front line in Donetsk city.
00:17:24.000 And we found them apartment to live there with children because the husband was killed by the bomb,
00:17:31.000 because some children were killed also by the bomb.
00:17:34.000 It was horrible anyway.
00:17:36.000 And when I used to be in Donbass in the hotel, every day and night I hear the bombing in the city.
00:17:44.000 It was very dangerous because Ukrainian army was bombing, blinding bombing.
00:17:50.000 It's not like they were targeting any military or militia people.
00:17:54.000 They were bombing school, hospital, hotel, on the street, everywhere.
00:17:59.000 It was horrible, believe me.
00:18:01.000 And this is why finally Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin decided to protect these civilian people
00:18:08.000 because it was like a kind of genocide.
00:18:11.000 The first genocide from the Second World War in Europe.
00:18:17.000 Nobody took care about that.
00:18:20.000 Nobody spoke about that.
00:18:22.000 Only people like us, very few people who went there.
00:18:25.000 Thank you for sharing that with us.
00:18:26.000 It's a very difficult thing that the world still doesn't know about.
00:18:29.000 Even though it's been right there.
00:18:31.000 Even recent history is out of people's minds.
00:18:35.000 Thank you for this.
00:18:36.000 Any final thoughts for us?
00:18:37.000 I just want to say that, you know, there is another point that I want to underline in this beautiful country.
00:18:43.000 It's the fact that all the people here are supporting large families.
00:18:48.000 You can speak to a driver of taxi, to the one who is in the restaurant,
00:18:55.000 or to the top level of political people here.
00:18:58.000 They are all supporting children, large families, family first.
00:19:04.000 And this is very impressive.
00:19:05.000 I want to give you one example.
00:19:07.000 When I was in France, I had my six children in six years.
00:19:13.000 It seems like, oh, they are all very young.
00:19:15.000 And my wife had some work outside with all the children. 0.74
00:19:21.000 People were reproaching her.
00:19:23.000 The fact that she has a lot of children.
00:19:26.000 And she was selfish.
00:19:27.000 What?
00:19:28.000 I'm selfish?
00:19:29.000 Yes, because you are thinking only about you and not about the planet.
00:19:34.000 You are going to make a lot of pollution to the world.
00:19:38.000 It's very selfish.
00:19:39.000 Could you imagine that for a woman who wear lots of babies for many months of the sacrifice, 0.99
00:19:46.000 no sleep for many, many months?
00:19:49.000 It's a real attack for me.
00:19:52.000 And when I came here, and when the people on the street saw my family,
00:19:59.000 they were arresting us.
00:20:00.000 And they were, is it all of these children?
00:20:04.000 Are they your children?
00:20:05.000 Yes.
00:20:06.000 You are a hero.
00:20:08.000 Congratulations.
00:20:09.000 They were thanking my wife.
00:20:12.000 And they were all saying, oh, you are a real hero.
00:20:15.000 Congratulations.
00:20:16.000 And for a woman, this is so important, you know, because I know what is it.
00:20:22.000 And you know also, you are a father of lots of family.
00:20:25.000 Our wives are real heroine. 1.00
00:20:28.000 And I think that it is important for her to hear that sometimes.
00:20:32.000 You can speak with everyone on the street.
00:20:35.000 They are all supporting this.
00:20:37.000 And this is very, very nice for educating children.
00:20:42.000 Yeah.
00:20:43.000 I saw that when I went to, we went to see one of the services in the Catholic Church.
00:20:49.000 And I went to one in the Orthodox Church.
00:20:51.000 And people outside and inside, even inside, because they stand for a long, long time.
00:20:56.000 They have ropes there.
00:20:57.000 And they put the little children in front and get them a seat.
00:20:59.000 Everybody else is standing.
00:21:01.000 Beautiful.
00:21:02.000 You know, for example, when you take metro with your children.
00:21:05.000 Moscow is a city where there is a lot of people, millions and millions of people.
00:21:10.000 You know that it's a big, big city.
00:21:12.000 So the metro is always crowded.
00:21:14.000 When you go with children inside the metro, people stand up and ask the woman and the children
00:21:20.000 to sit inside of them.
00:21:22.000 We lost that in France.
00:21:24.000 And here, it's normal for everyone.
00:21:26.000 Women, children. 0.96
00:21:27.000 This is what we must protect first.
00:21:30.000 Fabrice, thank you so much.
00:21:32.000 Thank you, John.
00:21:33.000 Amazing.
00:21:37.000 Aloha, everyone.
00:21:38.000 This is Jason Jones for LifeSide News.
00:21:40.000 We hope you enjoyed this video.
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00:21:55.000 Thanks for watching and may God bless you.