Bishops criticise staunch secularists on laïcité anniversary

On the 110th anniversary of the 1905 separation of Church and State in France, the bishops’ conference complained that “a school of thought exists in our country that wants to move from a laïcité of the state to a secularisation of society”, writes Tom Heneghan.

“Let’s avoid stigmatising believers,” conference president Archbishop Georges Pontier of Marseille said in a statement. The Church accepted the historic separation but it should be applied in its original sense rather than the more limited way some secularists now interpret it. “Some people would like all social life to be secular and believers to express themselves and their faith in a private sphere that is increasingly limited, if not hidden,” he said.