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 Empire stood appalled:
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When that fierce virgin and her Star
Out of the fabulous darkness called.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Protestantism has the method of Jesus with His secret too much left out of mind; Catholicism has His secret with His method too much left out of mind; neither has His unerring balance, His intuition, His sweet reasonableness. But both have hold of a great truth, and get from it a great power.”
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“It is not enough that France should be regarded as a country which enjoys the remains of a freedom acquired long ago. If she is still to count in the world—and if she does not intend to, she may as well perish—she must be seen by her own citizens and by all men as an ever-flowing source of liberty. There must not be a single genuine lover of freedom in the whole world who can have a valid reason for hating France.”
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