[kidd]

After the French revolution (which the nuns make reference to), Catholic clergy were made employees of the government.

[Mrs. Don-o]

This is true. With the 1790 Civil Constitution the anti-clerical politicians tried to make the Catholic Church a subordinate arm of the secular French government. Most resisted. Catholic priests were brutally suppressed through mass imprisonment and executions by drowning.

Dictatorships particularly resent Catholic (or other religions') schools, hospitals, and charities because they want everyone to be dependent on the State alone. They can't tolerate voluntary intermediate institutions.