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Church in the WorldOnly 2.8 million regular French Mass-goersFrance 19 August 2006THE RELATIVE decline of Catholicism in France over recent decades is continuing, according to the findings of one of the largest ever surveys into the faith. Two-thirds of the 60 million people of France describe themselves as Catholic, but of these only 2.8 million attend Mass regularly. Twenty-five per cent (10 million) of those declaring themselves Catholic describe themselves as practising, said the survey. Twenty years ago three-quarters of the French population declared themselves Catholic 20 years ago. Some 90 per cent said they were Catholic in 1972. For the purposes of the survey, regular Mass attendance was counted as at least once a month. The exceptionally large survey - of almost 30,000 people - was carried out by Ifop, a prominent French polling company, on behalf of the French Catholic daily La Croix. A great swathe of French Catholics distanced themselves from the institutional Church following the publication of the papal encyclical on reproduction and sexual ethics Humanae Vitae (1968), said La Croix. They have identified themselves as what the English-speaking world dubs "cultural Catholics" by supporting the Church financially, reading the Catholic press and engaging in a Church group - notably in the fields of international solidarity and justice and peace. Practising Catholics distinguish themselves principally by their age from the French population at large, with 43 per cent of these aged 65 or older (21 per cent of the French population fall in this age range). La Croix notes with some alarm that the "World Youth Day generation", who make up 19 per cent of the population, only account for 9 per cent of practising Catholics. Sixty per cent of practising Catholics are women and these are the backbone of the French Church, dominating diocesan positions as catechists and pastoral workers and leading many Church groups. In 20 years, those who declare themselves "without religion" have grown from 21 per cent to 27 per cent of the population. |
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