The End of Catholicism in France?

Cube vs. Cathedral: The Lost Match of the Church of France

Secular culture is largely winning, and sociologist Danièle Hervieu-Léger announces the end of French Catholicism. But the Church bears part of the blame. Gianni Ambrosio explains why.
by Sandro Magister

ROMA, May 9, 2005 -– By electing Joseph Ratzinger as pope, the cardinals made a strategic decision too: they identified Europe as the epicenter of the great conflict of faith, culture, and civilization – which hinges upon the vision of life and man – that the Catholic Church must face during the next years and decades.

Within Europe, France is both the real and symbolic center of this conflict.

In symbolic terms, the conflict is one between "The Cube and the Cathedral," the title of the most recent essay by political analyst and theologian George Weigel, published just recently in the United States.

The error of the Church in France – beginning after the Second World War – is that of having rejected its own rich religious tradition in the name of a new pastoral proposal of an abstract character:

"One path was left behind as out of date, while some other possible paths were pointed out in view of pastoral renewal, but these were based on a utopian model that refers only to community, fraternity, small groups, and individual choice."

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