PARIS — Leaders of France’s far-right National Front suspended the party’s founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, on Monday after repeated instances in which he made anti-Semitic and racist comments, a first step in distancing themselves from the aging patriarch.

In a statement, the National Front said that members would be asked at a party congress in three months to vote on a proposal to strip Mr. Le Pen of his honorary title of party president. That measure seems aimed at shrinking the significance of anything he says and diminishing its effect on the party’s image.

The censure came after Mr. Le Pen, 86, repeated in April his position that the Nazi gas chambers were “a detail of history” and spoke highly of Marshal Philippe Pétain, France’s World War II leader who collaborated with Adolf Hitler.

Relations between Mr. Le Pen and his daughter, Marine Le Pen, the party’s current leader, have grown strained over the years. Ms. Le Pen has focused on criticizing the European Union and what she calls the “Islamization” of France, trying to win favor with a mainstream electorate that is more sympathetic than ever to the party’s anti-immigrant stance.