Roman Catholicism In France
The Roman Catholic Church of France, sometimes called the "eldest daughter of the Church" owing to its early and unbroken communion (2nd century) with the bishop of Rome, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church. The French church is under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, curia in Rome, and the Conference of French bishops.
It is estimated that between 51% and 88% of France's population is Catholic. The church is organised into 98 dioceses, served by 20,523 priests. It takes pride in some of the most beautiful churches in all of Christianity, including Notre Dame de Paris, Chartres Cathedral, Reims Cathedral, and Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, Eglise de la Madeleine, and Amiens Cathedral. Its shrine, Lourdes, is visited by 5 million pilgrims yearly. Some of its most famous saints include St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Irenaeus, St. John Vianney the Cure of Ars, St. Joan of Arc, St. Bernadette, Louis IX of France, and St. Bernard of Clairvaux.
Read more about Roman Catholicism In France: History, Politics, Legal Status, Statistics, Divisions
Famous quotes containing the words roman, catholicism and/or france:
“The Roman rule was, to teach a boy nothing that he could not learn standing. The old English rule was, “All summer in the field, and all winter in the study.” And it seems as if a man should learn to plant, or to fish, or to hunt, that he might secure his subsistence at all events, and not be painful to his friends and fellow men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“When Catholicism goes bad it becomes the world-old, world-wide religio of amulets and holy places and priestcraft. Protestantism, in its corresponding decay, becomes a vague mist of ethical platitudes. Catholicism is accused of being too much like all the other religions; Protestantism of being insufficiently like a religion at all. Hence Plato, with his transcendent Forms, is the doctor of Protestants; Aristotle, with his immanent Forms, the doctor of Catholics.”
—C.S. (Clive Staples)
“The best of America drifts to Paris. The American in Paris is the best American. It is more fun for an intelligent person to live in an intelligent country. France has the only two things toward which we drift as we grow older—intelligence and good manners.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)