Abbe Pierre; Drew Attention to Poor, Homeless

He became an expert in arranging forged papers and spiriting people out of the country, among them the paralyzed younger brother of Gen. Charles de Gaulle. He also created an underground newspaper and formed "Maquis" guerrilla units.

Abbe Pierre escaped capture several times and fled to Casablanca through Spain. He was made chaplain of the Free French Navy, reentered France upon its liberation and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre.

After the war, he was elected president of the World Federalist Movement, a global peace and justice organization. He also served in the French national assembly for four years.

Using his legislative salary, he created the Emmaus International Youth Hostel in Neuilly-Plaisance, near Paris. At first, many of its occupants were former inmates at French penal colonies. They became the core of what was often called the Les Chiffonniers d'Emmaus (the Ragpickers of Emmaus). In 1992, because of what he considered a continuing indifference to the homeless, Abbe Pierre declined the Legion of Honor, France's highest decoration.

In 1996, he caused a public row for defending a friend, Roger Garaudy, a Marxist provocateur and Muslim convert, for writing a book about Israeli politics that was denounced as anti-Semitic. Amid public calls for Garaudy's deportation, Abbe Pierre vouched for the book's research, although he said he had not read it. The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism withdrew Abbe Pierre's membership.

Last year, Abbe Pierre published a book, "My God . . . Why?," that took issue with much Catholic dogma, from the prohibition against priests marrying to the ordination of women. He also advocated contraception and allowing gay couples to have children or adopt. He also acknowledged his own shortcomings on the vow of chastity.

He continued to top lists of France's most beloved figures, ahead of soccer star Zinedine Zidane, French President Jacques Chirac and assorted pop stars and existentialists.

He announced last year that he was taking himself out of the running.