Talk:Roman Catholic Diocese of Laval

Removed flag of French Republic from Infobox
I removed the French Republic flag icon from the Infobox, in accordance with several sections of WP:ICON; specifically (quoting),


 * "Generally, flag icons should not be used in infoboxes, even when there is a "country", "nationality" or equivalent field: they are unnecessarily distracting and give undue prominence to one field among many."
 * "Flags make simple, blunt statements about nationality, while words can express the facts with more complexity." [Laval was not part of France for many centuries, being part of Aquitaine (English), and then it belonged to the Kings of France (whose flag was a large golden fleur-de-lys on a white background), and for a time to the Empire of Napoleon I, and the Empire of Napoleon III, not to the French Republic. The diocese was not an integral part of the political structure of the French state].
 * "Do not rewrite history. Flags should not be used to misrepresent the nationality of a historical figure, event, object, etc. Political boundaries change, often over the span of a biographical article subject's lifetime [which includes details about individual bishops]. Where ambiguity or confusion could result, it is better not to use a flag at all, and where one is genuinely needed, use the historically accurate flag."

I might point out that, under the flag of the French Republic, the French government twice repudiated the diocese of Laval, once at the time of the Revolution, when it suppressed the diocese and all religion in the name of Reason; and the second in 1905 when it decreed the absolute separation between churches and state. The diocese of Laval was an organ of the Roman Catholic Church, not the French State.

--Vicedomino (talk) 19:15, 27 February 2019 (UTC)