 Catholic Church in France | |
|---|---|
| French:Église catholique en France | |
 | |
| Type | National polity |
| Classification | Catholic |
| Scripture | Bible |
| Theology | Catholic theology |
| Governance | CEF |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| President | Jean-Marc Aveline |
| Primate of the Gauls | Olivier de Germay[1] |
| Apostolic Nuncio | Celestino Migliore[2][3] |
| Region | Metropolitan France,Monaco |
| Language | French,Latin |
| Headquarters | Notre-Dame de Paris |
| Founder | Saint Remigius |
| Origin | c. 177Christianity in Gaul c. 496Frankish Christianity Gaul,Roman Empire |
| Separations | Huguenots (16th century) |
| Members | 27,000,000–58,000,000 |
| Official website | Episcopal Conference of France |
TheCatholic Church in France,Gallican Church, orFrench Catholic Church, is part of the worldwideCatholic Church incommunion with thePope inRome. Established in the second century in unbroken communion with thebishop of Rome, it is sometimes called the "eldest daughter of the Church" (French:fille aînée de l'Église).
The first written records of Christians in France date from the second century, whenIrenaeus detailed the deaths of 90-year-old bishopSaint Pothinus ofLugdunum (Lyon) and other martyrs of the 177 ADpersecution in Lyon. In 496Remigius baptized KingClovis I, who therefore converted from paganism to Catholicism. In 800,Pope Leo III crownedCharlemagne Emperor of theRoman Empire, forming the political and religious foundations ofChristendom inEurope and establishing in earnest the French government's long historical association with the Catholic Church.[4] In reaction, theFrench Revolution (1789–1799) was followed by heavy persecution of the Catholic Church. Since the beginning of the 20th century,Laïcité, absolute neutrality of the state with respect to religious doctrine, is the official policy of theFrench Republic.
Estimates of the proportion of Catholics in 2020 range between 47% and 88% of France's population, with the higher figure includinglapsed Catholics and "Catholic atheists".[5][6] The Catholic Church in France is organised into 98dioceses, which in 2012 were served by 7,000 sub-75 priests.[7] 80 to 90 priests are ordained every year, although the church would need eight times as many to compensate the number of priest deaths. Approximately 45,000 Catholic church buildings and chapels are spread out among 36,500 cities, towns, and villages in France, but a majority are no longer regularly used forMass. Notable churches of France includeNotre Dame de Paris,Chartres Cathedral,Dijon Cathedral,Reims Cathedral,Saint-Sulpice, Paris,Basilique du Sacre-Coeur,Strasbourg Cathedral,Eglise de la Madeleine, andAmiens Cathedral. Itsnational shrine,Lourdes, is visited by 5 million pilgrims yearly.[8] The capital city,Paris, is a major pilgrimage site for Catholics as well.
In recent decades, France has emerged as a stronghold for the small but growingTraditionalist Catholic movement,[9] along with theUnited States,England and otherEnglish-speaking countries.[10][11][12] TheSociety of Saint Pius X, a canonically irregular priestly society founded by French ArchbishopMarcel Lefebvre has a large presence in the country, as do other traditionalist priestly societies in full communion with Rome such as thePriestly Fraternity of St. Peter,Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest and others.[13]
Some of the most famous French saints and blesseds include St.Denis, St.Thérèse of Lisieux, St.Irenaeus, St.John Vianney (theCuré of Ars), St.Joan of Arc, St.Bernadette, St.Genevieve, St.Louis IX of France, St.Elizabeth of the Trinity, St.Vincent de Paul, St.Louise de Marillac, St.Catherine Labouré, St.Louis de Montfort, St.Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, St.Francis de Sales, St.Margaret Mary Alacoque, Bl.Nicholas Barré, and St.Bernard of Clairvaux.
According to long-standing tradition,Mary,Martha,Lazarus (Marie, Marthe and Lazare in French) and some companions, who were expelled by persecutions from the Holy Land, traversed the Mediterranean in a frail boat with neither rudder nor mast and landed atSaintes-Maries-de-la-Mer nearArles.Provençal tradition names Lazarus as the firstbishop of Marseille, while Martha purportedly went on to tamea terrible beast in nearbyTarascon. Pilgrims visited their tombs at the abbey ofVézelay inBurgundy. In the Abbey of the Trinity atVendôme, aphylactery was said to contain atear shed by Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus. The cathedral ofAutun, not far away, is dedicated to Lazarus asSaint Lazaire.
The first written records of Christians in France date from the 2nd century whenIrenaeus detailed the deaths of ninety-year-old bishopPothinus ofLugdunum (Lyon) and other martyrs of the 177persecution in Lyon.
The emperorTheodosius I (r. 379-95) makes Christianity theofficial state religion of the Roman Empire in 380.
In 496,Remigius baptizedClovis I, who was converted from paganism to Catholicism. Clovis I, considered the founder of France, made himself the ally and protector of the papacy and his predominantly Catholic subjects.
On Christmas Day 800,Pope Leo III crownedCharlemagne Emperor of theHoly Roman Empire, forming the political and religious foundations ofChristendom and establishing in earnest the French government's longstanding historical association with the Catholic Church.[4]
TheCouncil of Clermont, a mixedsynod of ecclesiastics and laymen led byPope Urban II in November 1095 atClermont-Ferrand triggered theFirst Crusade.
The Kingdom of France and its aristocracy were prominent players in theCrusades in general. Following theFourth Crusade, a period known as theFrankokratia existed where French Latin Catholics took over parts of theByzantine Empire. A crusade also took place on French territory in theCounty of Toulouse (contemporaryLanguedoc) with theAlbigensian Crusade in the 13th century, called byPope Innocent III. This played out on local level with fighting between the CatholicWhite Brotherhood and theCatharBlack Brotherhood. The Cathars lost and were subsequently exterminated. In 1312, the French monarchPhilip IV of France was involved in the suppression of theKnights Templar byPope Clement V; Philip was in deep financial dept to the Templars.
TheAvignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1377 during which sevenFrench popes, resided inAvignon.
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Prior to theFrench Revolution, the Catholic Church had been the official state religion of France since the conversion to Christianity ofClovis I, leading to France being called "the eldest daughter of the Church".[citation needed] The King of France was known as "His Most Christian Majesty". Following theProtestant Reformation, France was riven by sectarian conflict as theHuguenots and Catholics strove for supremacy in theWars of Religion until the 1598Edict of Nantes establisheda measure of religious toleration.
TheFrench Revolution radically shifted power away from the Catholic Church. Church property was confiscated, and the church crop tax and special clergy privileges were eliminated. With the 1790Civil Constitution of the Clergy, the clergy became employees of the State, and the Catholic Church became a subordinate arm of thesecularFrench government. During theReign of Terror, traditional Christian holidays were abolished and Catholic priests werebrutally suppressed, locally throughmass imprisonment andexecutions by drowning.[4]
Napoleon Bonaparte negotiated a reconciliation with the Church through the1801 Concordat, whereby the State would subsidize Catholicism (recognized as the majority religion of the French), as well asJudaism,Lutheranism, andCalvinism.[14] After the 1814Bourbon Restoration, theultra-royalist government, headed by thecomte de Villèle, passed the 1825Anti-Sacrilege Act, which made stealing of consecratedHosts punishable by death. Never enforced, this law was repealed in theJuly Monarchy (1830–1848).
On 5 October 2021, a report was published by theIndependent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) which showed that up to 330,000 children had become victims ofsexual abuse within the church in France over a period spanning 7 decades (1950–2020). This constitutes 6% of total sexual abuse in France, since the same report notes that there are a total of 5.5 million cases of sexual abuse of people under 18 in France. These crimes were committed by between 2900 and 3200 priests and community members.[15][16]
A number of allegedMarian apparitions are associated with France. The best known are the following:
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The1905 French law on the separation of Church and State removed the privileged status of the state religion (Catholic Church) and of the three other state-recognised religions (Lutheranism, Calvinism, Judaism), but left to them the use without fee, and the maintenance at government expense, of the churches that they used prior to 1905.
A notable exception isAlsace-Lorraine, which at the time of the separation was part ofGermany, and where the pre-1905 status, including the concordat, is still in force. This was negotiated in 1918 whenAlsace-Lorraine was returned to France at the end of the first World War, and approved by both France and the Holy See with theBriand-Ceretti Agreement. As a consequence, and although France is one of the countries in the world where the state and church are most separated, the French head of state is paradoxically the only temporal power in the world still nominating Catholic bishops, namely thebishop of Metz and thearchbishop of Strasbourg. They are approved by the Pope and in practice selected by him, but formally nominated by the French president following diplomatic exchanges with the Holy See through the nunciature.
During the application of the 1905 law, prime ministerEmile Combes, a member of theRadical-Socialist Party, tried to strictly enforce measures which some Catholics considered humiliating or blasphematory, leading to clashes between theCongregationists and the authorities. Anti-clericalism slowly declined among the French left-wing throughoutFrance in the twentieth century, while the question of religion and of freedom of thought seemed to have been resolved. However, it is still present as a defining trait of the left-wing, while most right-wing Frenchmen describe themselves as Catholics (although not necessarily practicing). Thus, the draft laws presented byFrançois Mitterrand's government in the early 1980s, concerning restrictions on the state funding of private (and in majority Catholic) schools, were countered by right-wing demonstrations headed by the then mayor of Paris, the GaullistJacques Chirac, who was to be his prime minister in 1986 and would succeed him in 1995 as president. In the same way, the2004 law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools, revived the controversy twenty years later, although the dividing lines also passed through each political side due to the complexity of the subject. On this occasion, severalMuslim associations have allied themselves with conservative Catholics to reject the law. One consequences of the law was that some Muslim middle and high school students who refused to remove their veils or "conspicuous religious symbols" withdrew from the public school system in favour of the private, but publicly funded, Catholic schools (where the law does not apply, being restricted to the public education system).
In any case, since the 1905 law on the separation of the Church and State, the prevailing public doctrine on religion islaïcité – that is, neutrality of the state with respect to religious doctrine, and separation of the religious and the public spheres, except inAlsace-Lorraine and in some oversea territories. This state neutrality is conceived as a protection ofreligious minorities as well as the upholding of freedom of thought, which includes a right toagnosticism andatheism. Although many Catholics were at first opposed to thissecular movement, most of them have since changed opinions, finding that this neutrality actually protects their faith from political interference. Only some minoritytraditionalist Catholic groups, such as theSociety of St. Pius X, push for the return to theAncien Régime or at least pre-separation situation, contending that France has forgotten its divine mission as a Christian country (an argument already upheld by the Ultras presenting the 1825Anti-Sacrilege Act).[citation needed]
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2024) |
2006 Statistics from the Catholic Church in France:[17]
| 1996 | 2001 | 2006 | Change in absolute numbers 1996–2006 | Change in % 1996–2006 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totalbaptisms | 421,295 | 391,665 | 344,852 | -76,443 | -19.1% |
| Totalconfirmations | 80,245 | 55,916 | 51,595 | -28,650 | -35.3% |
| TotalCatholic marriages | 124,362 | 118,087 | 89,014 | -35,348 | -28.4% |
| Totalpriests | 27,781 | 24,251 | 20,523 | -7,530 | -26.1% |
| Totaldeacons | 1,072 | 1,593 | 2,061 | +989 | +92.2% |
| Totalnuns | Approx. 53,000 | 49,466 | 40,577 | -13,000 | -23.4% |
| Totalreligious institute members includingmonks | Approx. 15,000 | Approx. 10,000 | 8,388 | -7,000 | -44% |
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74% of French Catholics supportsame-sex marriage and 24% oppose it. 87% of French Catholics believe society should accepthomosexuality, while 10% believe society should not accept homosexuality.[19]
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Within France the hierarchy consists of:
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Immediately subject to theHoly See:
Other:
France is the location of one of the world's major Catholicpilgrim centres atLourdes.
Growing discontent with the Catholic Church's influence in education and politics led to a series of reforms during theThird Republic reducing this influence, under the protests of theUltramontanists who supported theVatican's influence.
Anti-clericalism was popular amongRepublicans,Radicals, andSocialists, in part because the Church had supported thecounterrevolutionaries throughout the 19th century. After the16 May 1877 crisis and the fall of theOrdre Moral government led byMarshall MacMahon, the Republicans votedJules Ferry's 1880 laws onfree education (1881) and mandatory andsecular education (1882), which Catholics felt was a gross violation of their rights. The1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State established state secularism in France and led to the closure of most Church-run schools.
Since the Fifth Republic, most Catholics in France have supported theGaullist andCentristChristian democratic parties.
The government owns approximately 95% of France's more than 42,000 Catholic churches. This includes all parish churches constructed before 1905, which are owned by France's 34,955 communes. Only nine of the country's 149 cathedrals are not publicly owned.[21]
The condition of these buildings varies significantly. According to the November 2024 edition of a survey by theBishops' Conference of France, 72 churches have been demolished since 2000, and 326 have beendeconsecrated since 1905. The restoration efforts following the 2019 fire at Notre Dame Cathedral have focused on the financial challenges of maintaining and restoring these historical structures, particularly the smaller churches.[21]
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