French Catholic Church aims protests at Halloween

PARIS -- Halloween in France took a new twist Thursday, with the Catholic Church sending protesters into Paris and launching a campaign with rock music to refocus attention on All Saints' Day -- a religious holiday a day after Halloween.

Television talk shows turned their attention to the subject. Bakeries passed out fliers about the holiday's patron saints, and a small group of protesters gathered outside Planet Hollywood on the Champs-Elysees to denounce the Halloween-mania.

Arnaud Guyot-Jeannin, president of "The No to Halloween Collective" was quoted in Le Parisien newspaper as saying his group was comprised of Christians opposed to the commercialism of Halloween, in which "the monstrous and the ugly is exalted."