The Popular Republican Movement (French: Mouvement Républicain Populaire, MRP) was a Christian-democratic[4][5][6] political party in France during the Fourth Republic.

Its base was the Catholic vote and its leaders included Georges Bidault, Robert Schuman, Paul Coste-Floret, Pierre-Henri Teitgen and Pierre Pflimlin.

It played a major role in forming governing coalitions, in emphasizing compromise and the middle ground, and in protecting against a return to extremism and political violence.

[7] In the late 19th century secular forces sought to radically reduce the power of the Catholic Church in France, especially regarding schools.

[8] In 1892, in his encyclical Au Milieu Des Sollicitudes, Pope Leo XIII advised the French Catholics to rally to the Republic.

The previous year, another encyclical, Rerum novarum had denounced both capitalistic society and socialist ideology, and advocated the creation of Catholic popular organisations.

The very conservative Pope Pius X told the bishops to distance themselves from the state and condemned Le Sillon in his 1910 encyclical Notre charge apostolique.

It supported the reforms decided by the provisional government and inspired by the programme of the National Council of Resistance written during the war: nationalisation of banks and industrial companies such as Renault, and the creation of a welfare state.

Wanting to achieve the complete integration of Catholicism in the Republic, the MRP supported the principle of parliamentary democracy against De Gaulle.

One year later, a Gaullist party was founded under the name of Rally of the French People (Rassemblement du peuple français or RPF).

Two Christian Democrats led the cabinet: Georges Bidault (June–December 1946, October 1949-July 1950) and Robert Schuman (November 1947-July 1948, August–September 1948) who presented, as Foreign Minister, plans for what would become the European Community.

[13] It is the only major French party to defend the functioning of the colonial system, including forced labour, in the post-war period.

It was also a strong backer of NATO and of close alliance with the United States, making it the most "Atlanticist" of French political parties.