France is an overwhelmingly Catholic country -- up to 88 percent of the
population belongs to the Roman Catholic church, according to the CIA
World Factbook. However, the number of active believers has been falling
for decades.
Nonetheless, France boasts a glorious and splendid Catholic legacy --
from the iconic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris to its status as one of
the first countries to adopt Catholicism as its official religion. In
fact, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Emperor of the Holy Roman
Empire in the year 800, France’s history became inseparable from that
of the Catholic Church
Moreover, Avignon in the south of France served as the papal seat
from 1309 to 1377 -- the last of the so-called ‘Avignonese popes’ was
Gregory XI, who was born Pierre-Roger De Beaufort in Limoges-Fourche.
(No Frenchman has served as the Holy Father since then.)
But now in the second decade of the 21st century, with the College of
Cardinals having elected a new Pontiff in the Vatican -- Pope Francis
of Argentina -- France’s Catholic Churches are increasingly bereft of
parishioners.
The numbers are grim. Last year, according to reports, more than
one-third (35 percent) of France’s population and almost two-thirds (63
percent) of youth said they belonged to “no religion.”
Very few people, an estimated 1-in-20 of the French, regularly attend Mass anymore.
Father Innocent Feugna, an African deacon who toils at St Pierre de
Guise in northern France, complained that his congregation in aging and
dying out.
“Here I'm preaching to pensioners,” he lamented to BBC.
"In Cameroon, [the Catholic] Mass is animated, it's alive -- here [in
France], services are still flat and cold. In Cameroon, the churches
are full. We've got children. We've got adults, all ages. It's
completely different from France."
Not only are France’s church-goers aging, so are church officials --
the average priest in the country is now 75, forcing the importation of
foreigners to conduct religious services.
"Young people have different aspirations," Feugna stated. "Their
interests lie elsewhere. The Church perhaps doesn't have the right
message for young people here."
Needless to say, it is very hard to find potential priests among
French youth, commented Douglas Yates, assistant professor of political
science at the American University of Paris and professor at the
American Graduate School in Paris.
“As the priests in France get older, they are being replaced by
Africans, particularly in rural areas, a phenomenon that draws not a
little attention in the mass media,” he said, “If the trend continues,
the Catholic church will become a minority religion. Already it is
eye-to-eye with agnostic and atheists. Modern France is a secular
society.”
Members of France’s own Catholic Church have admitted as such --
noting that the number of baptisms has plunged by almost 25 percent
since 2000, while the number of Catholic wedding services has dropped by
40 percent over that period.
“The Catholics are dispersed throughout the country, more heavily in
the rural areas than in the urban centers, but nevertheless
geographically omnipresent,” said Yates.
“Demographically, the practicing Catholic population is gray haired,
as anyone could see who walks into a French church. Many churches are
so ill-attended that they are abandoned, or sold to the commune (often
turned into private homes, restaurants or even cafes).”
Interestingly, despite its adherence to Catholicism, France has had a stormy relationship with the Vatican.
Odon Vallet, a French religion and Vatican scholar, explained to
FRANCE 24, why there have been no French popes in over 600 years.
“This historical absence can be explained, notably, by the difficult
relationship that Church and French kings had with the papacy,” he
noted.
“And it’s important to remember that Napoleon put a pope in prison.”
Moreover, while the embrace of Catholic values appears to be slipping
from the French consciousness, the rocky road for the legalization of
same-sex marriage would suggest that some church teachings have deep
roots.
A bill approving gay marriage (and the right of gay couples to adopt)
was passed in the lower house of parliament last month – but it was
hardly unanimous. The measure passed in the National Assembly by a vote
of 329 in favor to 229 against, while 10 deputies abstained.
The bill remains subject to approval by the senate before it becomes law.
Already, Paris has witnessed huge protests against the bill from social conservatives and church figures.
Last year, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, the archbishop of Paris,
warned a group of French bishops in Lourdes that same-sex marriage
"would be a transformation of marriage that would affect everyone" and
amounted to a form of “deceit.”
Indeed, Yates notes that Catholicism should not be discounted as a force in French society.
“The Cathedral remains a pillar of the identity of most French
cities, and the parish church the symbolic center of small town France,”
he said.
“One of the most visible showings of French Catholics were the public
protests against gay marriage that filled the streets of Paris this
winter. If those crowds are any indication, French Catholics have a
voice equal to other social forces.”
Yates also points out that the French media that has not only given
an extensive amount of space and time to covering the papal conclave,
but it has been extremely careful not to offend its French audiences.
“One could say that
while the French are no longer a practicing
country, they remain nominally Catholic, and retain something of this in
their national identity,” he noted.
