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DORDOGNE
Religion

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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 Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of LyonPhoto: 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 cathedralNotre-Dame de Paris is an early Gothic cathedralPhoto: Madhurantakam CC 3.0 Unported no changes made

The secularisation that is going on all over France is somewhat less in the Dordogne due to the lower population density.


Sources

Best, J. / Dordogne, Limousin met Quercy en Berry
Gottmer/Becht

Denhez, F. / Dordogne, Lot, Périgord, Quercy
ANWB

Dordogne en Lot-et-Garonne
Lannoo

Dordogne, Périgord : Périgueux, Bergerac, Cahors, Rocamadour
Lannoo

Graaf, G. de / Dordogne, Limousin
ANWB

Hiddema, B. / Dordogne
ANWB

Miller, N. / Dordogne
ANWB

CIA - World Factbook

BBC - Country Profiles

Last updated February 2024
Copyright: Team The World of Info