France's Catholic Church in decline as Pope visits
Tens of thousands of Catholics are expected in the French Mediterranean city of Marseille for Pope Francis's two-day visit, but the once dominant faith is in a long decline in France.
Just 29 percent of French people aged 18-59 said they were Catholic in a 2019-20 survey by statistics authority Insee.
That was a steep plunge from the 85-percent rate in 1962 and France's centuries-old status as "the eldest daughter of the Church".
The Argentina-born Francis, himself from the southern hemisphere, "obviously doesn't think France is a priority," said Bernard Lecomte, a journalist and author of "Tous les Secrets du Vatican" ("All the Vatican's Secrets").
His failure to visit since becoming pope in 2013 has made for "disquiet among French Catholics, who are already quite upset" at becoming "just another minority", Lecomte added.
In a controversial move for the head of the secular French republic, Macron will attend the pope's mass on Saturday although he has insisted "I am not going as a Catholic but as president of the republic, which is secular".
Although Macron was baptised as a Catholic at his own request aged 12, he is now seen as an agnostic albeit with a deep interest in spiritual matters.
He has also called for securing the right to abortion in France's constitution, after the US Supreme Court overturned nationwide protection last year.
https://news.yahoo.com/frances-catholic-...24052.html
Tens of thousands of Catholics are expected in the French Mediterranean city of Marseille for Pope Francis's two-day visit, but the once dominant faith is in a long decline in France.
Just 29 percent of French people aged 18-59 said they were Catholic in a 2019-20 survey by statistics authority Insee.
That was a steep plunge from the 85-percent rate in 1962 and France's centuries-old status as "the eldest daughter of the Church".
The Argentina-born Francis, himself from the southern hemisphere, "obviously doesn't think France is a priority," said Bernard Lecomte, a journalist and author of "Tous les Secrets du Vatican" ("All the Vatican's Secrets").
His failure to visit since becoming pope in 2013 has made for "disquiet among French Catholics, who are already quite upset" at becoming "just another minority", Lecomte added.
In a controversial move for the head of the secular French republic, Macron will attend the pope's mass on Saturday although he has insisted "I am not going as a Catholic but as president of the republic, which is secular".
Although Macron was baptised as a Catholic at his own request aged 12, he is now seen as an agnostic albeit with a deep interest in spiritual matters.
He has also called for securing the right to abortion in France's constitution, after the US Supreme Court overturned nationwide protection last year.
https://news.yahoo.com/frances-catholic-...24052.html
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
