Michael Brooks
Catholicism has been the major religion in France for over a millennium, with the French monarchy enjoying close ties to the Roman Catholic Church. In 496, King Clovis I was baptised and converted from paganism to Catholicism, and in 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor of the Roman Empire, establishing the French government's long historical association with the Catholic Church. The French Revolution (1789-1799) saw heavy persecution of the Catholic Church, and the rise of revolutionary cults such as the Cult of Reason and the Cult of the Supreme Being. Since the beginning of the 20th century, France has officially adopted Laïcité, or absolute neutrality of the state with respect to religious doctrine. While the influence of the Catholic Church has waned in recent times, with a decline in Catholicism among younger demographics, it continues to play a significant role in the country's religious landscape.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| First written records of Christians in France | 2nd century |
| Conversion of King Clovis I from paganism to Catholicism | 496 |
| Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne Emperor of the Roman Empire | 800 |
| Start of the French Revolution | 1789 |
| Persecution of the Catholic Church | 1789-1799 |
| Cult of Reason introduced | 1793 |
| Cult of the Supreme Being introduced | 1794 |
| Napoleon's occupation of Rome | 1808 |
| Concordat of 1801 signed between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII | 1801 |
| End of the Concordat of 1801 | 1905 |
| Percentage of Catholics in France in 2020 | 47% - 88% |
| Percentage of the French population adhering to Christianity in 2020 | 34% |
| Percentage of French Christians who are Catholic | 73.5% |
| Number of Catholic churches in France | 42,000+ |
| Number of Catholic churches owned by the government | 41,956 |
| Number of Catholic churches demolished since 2000 | 72 |
| Number of Catholic churches deconsecrated since 1905 | 326 |
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What You'll Learn
Clovis I's conversion to Catholicism in 496
Clovis I, the first king of what would become France, was born a pagan but converted to Catholicism in 496. He was baptised by Bishop Remigius of Reims, becoming the first king of the Franks to unite all of the Franks under one ruler.
Clovis's conversion was pivotal in Frankish history. Before accepting Catholicism, Clovis was interested in the Christian heresy Arianism, even sympathetic to it, and perhaps even leaning towards adopting it. Clovis's wife Clotilde, later venerated as a saint, was also instrumental in his conversion. Clotilde attempted to persuade her husband to abandon paganism, and when Clovis finally converted, he became a "new Constantine", the emperor who Christianised the Roman Empire in the early 4th century.
Clovis's conversion to Catholicism, as opposed to Arianism, set him apart from the other Germanic kings of his time, such as those of the Visigoths and the Vandals. His embrace of Catholicism may also have gained him the support of the Catholic Gallo-Roman aristocracy in his later campaign against the Visigoths, which drove them from southern Gaul in 507. This resulted in a great many of his people converting to Catholicism.
Clovis's conversion led to widespread conversion among the Franks, and eventually to religious unification across what is now modern-day France, the Low Countries, and Germany. The alliance between the Franks and Catholicism led to Charlemagne's crowning by the Pope as emperor in 800 and the subsequent birth of the early Holy Roman Empire in the middle of the 10th century.
Following his conversion, Clovis summoned the bishops to a church council in Orléans to reform the Church and create a strong link between the Crown and the Catholic episcopate. Prior to the French Revolution, the Catholic Church was the official state religion of France, and France was known as "the eldest daughter of the Church".
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The French Revolution and persecution of the Church
The French Revolution (1789–1799) was followed by heavy persecution of the Catholic Church. In 1789, the year the French Revolution broke out, Catholicism was the official religion of the French state. The French Catholic Church, known as the Gallican Church, recognised the authority of the pope as head of the Roman Catholic Church but had negotiated certain liberties that privileged the authority of the French monarch. France’s population of 28 million was almost entirely Catholic, with full membership of the state denied to Protestant and Jewish minorities.
The revolutionary governing bodies were particularly determined to destroy every vestige of the Roman Catholic Church because France was hailed by Rome as the Church’s “eldest daughter”. The revolutionary authorities suppressed the Church, abolished the Catholic monarchy, nationalised Church property, exiled 30,000 priests, and killed hundreds more. The National Constituent Assembly seized the properties and land held by the Catholic Church and decided to sell them to fund the assignat revolutionary currency. On 12 July 1790, the assembly passed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy that subordinated the Catholic Church in France to the French government. It was never accepted by the Pope and other high-ranking clergy in Rome.
The programme of dechristianisation waged against Catholicism, and eventually against all forms of Christianity, included the destruction of statues, plates and other iconography from places of worship, the destruction of crosses, bells and other external signs of worship, and the institution of revolutionary and civic cults, including the Cult of Reason and the Cult of the Supreme Being. In October 1793, the Christian calendar was replaced with one reckoned from the date of the Revolution, and Festivals of Liberty, Reason, and the Supreme Being were scheduled. The revolutionary government briefly mandated observance of the Cult of the Supreme Being in April 1794.
In 1794, France’s churches and religious orders were closed down and religious worship suppressed. The Revolutionary Tribunal, established on 10 March 1793, aimed to demonstrate that persons of danger to the Republic were being identified and punished. Laws of September 1793 and June 1794 targeting ‘enemies of liberty’ and ‘enemies of the people’ saw mounting numbers of priests and nuns arrested and placed on trial. Their charges included not only counter-revolution but ‘fanaticism’ and possession of items used in the celebration of mass, again demonstrating the suspicion now attached to religious worship. Only a small percentage were guillotined, but their trials – designed to set an example – instead garnered further support for counterrevolutionary forces in the Vendée and other parts of western France and drove religious practice underground.
By early 1795, a return to some form of religion-based faith was beginning to take shape, and a law passed on 21 February 1795 legalised public worship, albeit with strict limitations. The ringing of church bells, religious processions and displays of the Christian cross were still forbidden. As late as 1799, priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies.
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Napoleon's occupation of Rome and Pope's retaliation
France has a long historical association with the Catholic Church, dating back to the 2nd century when the first written records of Christians in the country emerged. In 496, King Clovis I converted to Catholicism, and in 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor of the Roman Empire, establishing the political and religious foundations of Christendom in Europe.
However, the French Revolution (1789-1799) marked a period of heavy persecution of the Catholic Church in France. The Revolutionary Tribunal, established in March 1793, targeted 'enemies of liberty' and 'enemies of the people', resulting in the arrest and trial of many priests and nuns. The Constitutional Church was permitted to continue its work, but the Convention considered Catholicism suspicious. The Cult of Reason, which worshipped the goddess of reason instead of a god, emerged during this time, and Robespierre introduced the Cult of the Supreme Being in 1794 as a new state religion.
Now, onto the main event: Napoleon's occupation of Rome and the Pope's retaliation.
Napoleon's Occupation of Rome
In 1796, French troops under Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy, defeated the Papal Army, and occupied Ancona and Loreto. In 1798, General Louis-Alexandre Berthier marched to Rome, entered unopposed, and proclaimed a Roman Republic. He demanded that Pope Pius VI renounce his temporal power, and upon his refusal, the Pope was taken prisoner and escorted from the Vatican.
In 1808, Napoleon's troops under General Sextius Alexandre François de Miollis occupied Rome once again. This action brought the already strained relationship between Napoleon and the Church to a breaking point.
The Pope's Retaliation
Pius VII responded to Napoleon's occupation by excommunicating him. In retaliation, Napoleon had the Pope arrested and brought to France as his prisoner, where he was confined for over six years until 1814. Napoleon sent delegations to pressure the Pope to yield power and sign a new concordat, but these attempts at reconciliation failed.
The Pope's retaliation, excommunicating Napoleon, was a bold move that had significant consequences. It led to his arrest and confinement, demonstrating the power dynamics between the French state and the Catholic Church at the time. This incident highlights the complex relationship between church and state during the Napoleonic era, where religious and political interests often clashed.
The tension between Napoleon and the Pope was not easily resolved, and even a new concordat signed at Fontainebleau in 1813 could not mend the differences between them. Napoleon's actions ultimately served to increase the loyalty of Church members to Rome, rather than to himself or the French state.
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The Cult of Reason and Cult of the Supreme Being
France has been predominantly Catholic for many centuries. The first written records of Christians in France date from the 2nd century, with the conversion of King Clovis I from paganism to Catholicism in 496 AD. The French Revolution (1789-1799) marked a period of heavy persecution of the Catholic Church, and the emergence of revolutionary 'cults' such as the Cult of Reason and the Cult of the Supreme Being.
The Cult of Reason was France's first established state-sponsored atheistic religion, which aimed to replace Roman Catholicism during the French Revolution. It rejected the idea of godhead and worshipped the abstract concept of Reason. The cult encouraged acts of congregational worship and devotional displays to the ideal of Reason. Its followers believed that mankind could attain perfection through the attainment of Truth and Liberty, with Reason as the guiding principle. However, the cult's festivals and ceremonies, which involved transforming churches into "Temples of Reason", were considered scandalous and depraved by many, including Maximilien Robespierre, a prominent leader during the Reign of Terror.
Robespierre vehemently opposed the Cult of Reason, denouncing it as a "ridiculous farce". He believed that atheism was detrimental to public morality and social order. Instead, he introduced the Cult of the Supreme Being, which he envisioned as a new state religion. On 7 May 1794, the National Convention authorized the Cult of the Supreme Being as the civic religion of France.
The Cult of the Supreme Being was a deistic religion, independent of the Catholic Church, and based on the belief in the existence of a god and the immortality of the soul. Robespierre intended it to harness the French people's desire for religious belief and worship, while also promoting civic-minded, public virtue. He dedicated festivals to various ideals such as Truth, Justice, Modesty, Friendship, and Immortality. Robespierre positioned himself as the head of the cult, which some interpreted as an attempt to create a new religion with himself as its god.
The Festival of the Supreme Being, held on 8 June 1794 throughout France, was presided over by Robespierre in Paris. However, it failed to attract significant interest outside urban centres. The Cult of the Supreme Being, like its predecessor, faced opposition and lasted only as long as Robespierre's rule, which ended just six weeks after the festival. Both cults were officially banned in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte.
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The Concordat of Francis I
The Concordat of Bologna, also known as the Concordat of Francis I, was an agreement between King Francis I of France and Pope Leo X. It was negotiated after Francis I's victory at Marignano in September 1515, with the groundwork laid in meetings between the king and the pope in Bologna from 11 to 15 December 1515. The Concordat was signed in Rome on 18 August 1516.
The Concordat also granted people the right to appeal to Rome on legal matters, diluting the power of the Parlement de Paris. While the Parlement, the Sorbonne, and the church opposed the Concordat, they eventually accepted it due to intimidation by Francis I. The Parlement registered the Concordat under duress, doing so in Latin as a sign of their reluctance.
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Frequently asked questions
France has been Catholic since King Clovis I's conversion to Catholicism in 496 AD.
Estimates of the percentage of Catholics in France in 2020 range from 47% to 88% of the population. The higher figure includes lapsed Catholics.
The Catholic Church was the official state religion of France prior to the French Revolution. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the official policy of the French Republic has been laïcité, or absolute neutrality of the state with respect to religious doctrine.
There are over 42,000 Catholic churches in France, with approximately 45,000 Catholic church buildings and chapels spread out among 36,500 cities, towns, and villages.
The Catholic Church in France has a long and complex history. It has been influenced by various political and social factors over the centuries, including the French Revolution, the Napoleonic era, and the growth of Protestantism. Catholicism in France is also closely tied to the French monarchy, which historically had strong links to the Roman Catholic Church.
