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Christianity in France is the largest religion in the country.France is home to theTaizé Community, anecumenicalChristianmonasticfraternity inTaizé, Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy. With a focus on youth, it has become one of the world's most important sites ofChristianpilgrimage with over 100,000 young people from around the world converging each year for prayer,Bible study, sharing, and communal work.[1]
According to a survey held byInstitut français d'opinion publique (Ifop) for theInstitut Montaigne think-tank, 51.1% of the total population of France was Christian in 2016.[2] The following year, a survey byIpsos focused on Protestants and based on 31,155 interviews found that 57.5% of the total population of France declared to be Catholic and 3.1% declared to be Protestant.[3]
In 2016,Ipsos Global Trends, a multi-nation survey held by Ipsos and based on approximately 1,000 interviews, found that Christianity is the religion of 45% of the working-age, internet connected population of France; 42% stated they were Catholic, 2% stated that they were Protestants, and 1% declared to belong to any Orthodox church.[4]
In 2015 theEurobarometer, a survey funded by theEuropean Union, found that Christianity was the religion of 54.3% of the French, with Catholicism being the main denomination with 47.8%.[5]
Early Christianity was already present among theGauls by the 2nd century;Irenaeus,bishop of Lugdunum (Lyon), detailed the deaths of ninety-year-old bishopPothinus and other martyrs during thepersecution in Lyon which took place in 177. The Gaulish church was soon established in communion with thebishop of Rome. In 380, the emperorTheodosius I issued theEdict of Thessalonica, which made Christianity, specificallyNicene Christianity, the official religion of theRoman Empire. With theMigration Period of theGermanic peoples, the Gauls were invaded by theFranks, who at first practisedFrankish paganism. Their tribes were unified into a kingdom, which came to be calledFrance, byClovis I. He was proclaimed theking of the Franks in 509, after having been baptised in 496 byRemigius,bishop of Reims. Roman Catholicism was made the state religion of France. This made the Franks the only Germanic people who directly converted from their paganism to Roman Catholicism without first embracingArianism, which was the first religion of choice among Germanic peoples in the Migration Period.
In 800,Pope Leo III crownedCharlemagne as the emperor of theHoly Roman Empire, forming the unified political and religious foundation ofChristendom, medieval European Christian civilisation, and establishing in earnest France's long historical association with the Catholic Church, for which it was known as the "eldest daughter of the church" throughout the Middle Ages.[6] TheFrench Revolution (1789–1799), which resulted in the establishment of theFrench First Republic (1792–1804), involved a heavy persecution of the Catholic Church, within a policy ofdechristianisation, which led to the destruction of many churches, religious orders and artworks, including the very influentialCluny Abbey. During theFirst French Empire (1804–1814), theBourbon Restoration (1814–1830) and the followingJuly Monarchy (1830–1848), Roman Catholicism was made again the state religion, and maintained its role as thede facto majority religion during theSecond French Republic (1848–1852) and theSecond French Empire (1852–1870).Laïcité (secularism), absolute neutrality of the state with respect to religious doctrines, was first established during theThird French Republic (1870–1940), codified with the 1905 Law on the Separation of Church and State, and remains the official policy of the contemporary French republic.[6]
In a 2016 study sponsored by two Catholic newspapers, the scholars Cleuziou and Cibois estimated that Catholics represented 53.8% of the French population. According to the same study, 23.5% were engaged Catholics and 17% were practising Catholics.[7] The following year, in a survey focused on Protestantism, 57.5% of a sample of 31,155 people declared to be Catholic.[3]
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According to a survey by Ifop, in 2012, 770 people out of the 37,743 interviewed (or 2.1%) declared to be Protestants of various types. About 42% of them wereCalvinists (Huguenots), 21% wereevangelical Protestants, 17% wereLutherans and another 20% were affiliated with other Protestant churches.[8] The percentage rose to 3.1% in 2017, mainly due to recent conversions. Out of 100% of people that have become Protestants, 67% were Catholic and 27% were of no religion.[3]
In a study regarding the various religions of France, based on 49 surveys held by the Ifop in the period 2011–2014, so based on a sample of 51.770 interviewed, there were 17.4% of Protestants in theBas-Rhin, 7.3% in theHaut-Rhin, 7.2% in theGard, 6.8% in theDrôme and 4.2% in theArdèche. In the other departments this presence is residual, with, for example, only 0.5% inCôte-d'Or and in theCôtes-d'Armor.[9]
In recent years, a new Evangelical church is built every 10 days.[10]
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TheEastern Orthodox Church in France is represented by several communities and ecclesiastical jurisdictions. Traditionally, Eastern Orthodox Christians in France are mainly ethnic Greeks, Russians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Serbs, Ukrainians and Georgians, but there are also some ethnic French converts to Eastern Orthodoxy. Different Eastern Orthodox churches have separate jurisdictions and organisations in France, the oldest among them being the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of France under theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.[11]
Oriental Orthodox Christianity in France is represented by several communities and ecclesiastical jurisdictions. Traditionally, Oriental Orthodox Christians in France are mainly ethnic Armenians, Copts, Ethiopians and Syriacs, but there are also French converts. The largest Oriental Orthodox church in France is theFrench Coptic Orthodox Church.[12]
Other Christian groups in France include theJehovah's Witnesses, theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and other small sects. TheEuropean Court on Human Rights reckoned 249,918 "regular and occasional" Jehovah's Witnesses in France[13] and according to their official website, there are 128,759 publishers in the country.[14]
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