Church in the World

Cardinal highlights plight of priests

France

Priests tired and disorientated in face of the continued thinning of their ranks were the subject of an unusual address from Cardinal André Vingt-Trois when he spoke to French bishops at their spring meeting in Lourdes. "We know how difficult their task is," said the cardinal, who is Archbishop of Paris and head of the bishops' conference. Many had "the feeling of being drawn into a vortex where neither the direction nor the purpose are clear - and still do not see the generation of successors on the horizon".

The French Church has halved the number of its parishes in recent years as the clergy shrank from 41,000 in 1965 to 20,500 in 2006. Only 100 or so new priests are ordained every year. Baptisms, confirmations and church marriages are all declining. Cardinal Vingt-Trois said that there was profound change and suffering in the ranks of the Church and no single ready solution was available. "The only path open to us is to work together with the members of our communities and with priests assembled around their bishop," he said.