COTE D'AZUR
Religion

Popular destinations FRANCE

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Religion

The French population is about 80% Roman Catholic (approx. 48 million), 4.5% predominantly Sunni Islamic (approx. 4 million) and there are also small minorities of Protestants (approx. 950,000), Jews (approx. 700,000; the largest Jewish community in Europe) and Armenian-Christian. Catholicism was the state religion since the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis XIV.

Since the separation of church and state in 1905, the state no longer has any involvement with the Church. The Roman Catholic Church has eighteen provinces in France and a total of 95 dioceses. The Archbishop of Lyon is at the head of the ecclesiastical provinces.

Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon_{Photo: MEDEF CC 2.0 Generic no changes made}

After St. Bartholomew's Day (1572), the power of Protestantism in France was broken. Protestant churches were not recognized until the law of 1802. The main Protestant denominations are: the Église Réformée de France, the Église de la Confession d'Augsburg d'Alsace et de Lorraine, the Église évangélique luthérienne and the Église réformée d'Alsace et de Lorraine.

Since 1905 there has been a federation of Protestant churches consisting of Reformed, Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists and free churches: the Fédération Protestante de France.

Protestant theological faculties for the training of ministers are located in Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier, Paris and Strasbourg; the last two are inter-confessional faculties. Despite the relatively small number, the influence of the Protestants in France is quite large.

Notre-Dame de Paris is an early Gothic cathedral_{Photo: Madhurantakam CC 3.0 Unported no changes made}

The municipalities of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, St.-Jeures, Fay-sur-Lignon and Tence, located between Le-Puy-en-Velay and St.-Étienne, together form a Protestant enclave within Catholic France. This area is also referred to as 'La Montagne Protestante'.

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Sources

Booren, R. van den / Côte d'Azur
ANWB

Côte d’Azur
Kosmos Reisgidsen

Côte d'Azur, Monaco
Lannoo

Simon, K. / Côte d'Azur
ANWB

CIA - World Factbook

BBC - Country Profiles

Last updated November 2024
Copyright: Team The World of Info