HOLY FATHER VISIT PARIS, LOURDES AND METZ

By: Gregor Puppinck
Photo: Vatican Media

France has the great privilege and honour of welcoming the Holy Father this week, to Paris, Lourdes and Metz. Hundreds of thousands of people have registered to attend the ceremonies, and there is widespread enthusiasm across society. Yet, in the face of this enthusiasm, some voices have opposed and criticised the Pope’s visit, invoking secularism and the cost of the trip.

It is precisely this persistent tension towards Christianity in France that lies at the heart of ECLJ report. After providing an overview of the collapse of religious practice in France, ECLJ examine the ideological pressures, injustices and “legal” forms of discrimination experienced by the Church and Christians in France, particularly in the religious, educational, and healthcare spheres.

In fact, “Catholic France” continues to suffer injustices and violence in its own country. Yet the purpose of this report is not to entrench Christians in a victim mentality, nor to encourage them to dwell on it. On the contrary, it is to help them change their mindset: to free themselves from a spirit of defeat and submission towards the world, to which we have become accustomed for too long, and to defend the rights and freedoms of the Church and of God in society.

As society collapses before our eyes and France declines further with each passing year, the Church is, miraculously, regaining a new vitality amid the ruins. It is not these ruins that attract the thousands of young people who are converting, but the desire to restore all things in Christ.

May this account of the sufferings and hope of the Church in France, together with the remarkable enthusiasm surrounding the Pope’s visit, help to free Christians and open the eyes of the French people.