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 France |  Holy See |
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Holy See–France relations are very ancient and have existed since the 5th century. They have been durable to the extent thatFrance is sometimes called theeldest daughter of the Church (fille aînée de l'Église in French).
Areas of cooperation betweenParis and the Holy See have traditionally included education, health care, the struggle against poverty and international diplomacy. Before the establishment of thewelfare state, Church involvement was evident in many sectors of French society. Today, Paris's international peace initiatives are often in line with those of the Holy See, which favors dialogue on a global level.
Thefirst Council of Orléans officially sealed a long-lasting alliance between the papacy and the monarchy. TheCarolingians strongly enforced these laws for centuries, but they often took it to themselves to name bishops and control church activities.
TheGregorian reform was successfully imposed on France.Boniface VIII had a bitter dispute withPhilip the Fair over the temporal power of the pope. These divisions eventually led to theWestern Schism, which was only resolved after the end of theAvignon papacy. Unresolved controversies from that schismatic period led to thewars of religion, in which the Catholic side ultimately prevailed in France.
Gallicanism played a major role in the period following theCouncil of Trent. The kings of France had a near monopoly on the nomination of bishops and it was difficult to apply all the decisions of Trent because of this.Louis XIV was a major patron of the church and was generally opposed to granting privileges to Protestants.
Disputes betweenjesuits andjansenists had popeClement XI intervene in church affairs with the bullUnigenitus of 1713 in order to resolve controversies over grace.
The bullIn eminenti apostolatus banning Freemasonry is promulgated by popeClement XII in 1738, but it was deliberately ignored by the French parliament, which went on to adopt the social program of theEnlightenment.
PopePius VI notoriously opposed theCivil Constitution of the Clergy, a turning point in the French Revolution which led to bloody infighting between revolutionaries and reactionaries.
The Concordat of 1801 was a reflection of an agreement between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII that reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and restored some of its former civil status.
After Napoleon's defeat, the Papacy approved of the neo-royalistRestoration and opposed theCarbonaris and other secret societies. Therevolutions of 1848 had a largely negative impact on relations between the two States, andPius IX publicly deplored them.
Following the British Empire's defeat of China in theFirst Opium War (1839-1841), China was required to permit foreign missionaries.[1]: 182 Theunequal treaties gave European powers jurisdiction over missions and some authority over Chinese Christians.[1]: 182 France sought to frame itself as the protector of Catholics in China, which in turn led to a sustained diplomatic dispute with the Holy See about who had authority over Chinese Catholics.[1]: 182
After Pius IX's death in 1878, relations became sour between secularists and Catholics who were mostly monarchists, but popeLeo XIII did his best to reconcile the two opposite factions in French society, in what historians have called theralliement by recognising the republic.
The early 20th century was a very difficult time in France-Vatican relations because of tensions overchurch-state separation (laicité) andanticlericalism, which were condemned byPius X, and which led to the freezing of relations. Diplomatic relations were broken by the French government in 1904.
In 1917, France blocked the Holy See's efforts to establish diplomatic relations with the Republic of China.[1]: 182 As a result, Vatican interests in China were represented by an Apostolic Delegate (which does not have formal diplomatic status) until the 1940s.[1]: 182
Relations between France and the Holy See were renewed after theFirst World War in 1921 and had very much improved under the presidency ofCharles de Gaulle. There was controversy over relations under theVichy regime, because the regime rewarded the Church even though bishops often opposed antisemitism.
AlthoughGiscard D'Estaing had been considered as a conservative Catholic (he was from theUnion for French Democracy (UDF), which was a centre-right Christian democratic party), it was under his conservative government that laws onabortion andcontraception were legalised.
Relations with theFrançois Mitterrand'sSocialist government were also chilly because the Socialist government planned to further secularize private schools (defunded the schools which run by the Catholic Church) and functionaries, massive demonstrations making it change its mind.John Paul II deplored thedechristianization of France; in one of his pilgrimages, he famously said, "France, what have you done of your baptism?"[2]
Relations with theNicolas Sarkozy's conservativegaullist government had been relatively good, given the fact that the government announced an end to the ban on recognition of higher Christian institutions.
Relations with theFrançois Hollande's socialist government with Vatican had been strained, due to the Socialist government legalizedsame-sex marriage in 2013. However, President François Hollande had a good relationship withPope Francis.
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