Picked up and commented on by more than 200 media outlets, the CSA survey on French Catholics that we published in our latest issue had a considerable impact and sparked numerous reactions in France and abroad. Even the Vatican, in the person of Cardinal Poupard, reacted, denouncing the "religious illiteracy" of the French. I would like to return to some of these reactions.
Members of the Church have rightly pointed out that the dramatic drop in the number of French people declaring themselves Catholic (51% compared to 63% in the latest surveys) was mainly due to the wording of the question: "What is your religion, if you have one?" instead of the more commonly used formula: "To which religion do you belong?" The latter formulation refers more to a sense of sociological belonging: I am Catholic because I was baptized. The formulation we adopted seemed much more relevant for measuring personal adherence, also leaving more open the possibility of declaring oneself "without religion." It is quite obvious, as I have constantly pointed out when publishing this survey, that there are more baptized people than people declaring themselves Catholic. A survey with a classic formulation would probably give different figures. But what is more interesting to know? The number of people who were raised Catholic or those who consider themselves Catholic today? The way the question is asked is not the only factor in the figures obtained. Henri Tincq reminds us that in 1994, the CSA institute asked, for a survey published in Le Monde, exactly the same question as for the survey published in 2007 in Le Monde des Religions: 67% of French people then said they were Catholic, which shows the significant decline that has occurred in twelve years.
Many Catholics – clergy and lay people alike – have also felt discouraged by the decline of faith in France, expressed by a series of figures: among those who declare themselves to be Catholic, there remains only a minority of faithful who are truly committed to the faith. I cannot help but put this survey into perspective with the recent death of two great believers, the Dominican Marie-Dominique Philippe and Abbé Pierre (1), who were true friends.
These two Catholic figures from such different backgrounds told me essentially the same thing: this collapse, over several centuries, of Catholicism as the dominant religion, could constitute a real opportunity for the Gospel message: we could rediscover it in a truer, more personal, more lived way. Better, in the eyes of Abbé Pierre, to have a few "believable believers" than a mass of lukewarm believers who contradicted by their actions the force of the Christian message. Father Philippe believed that the Church, following Christ, had to go through the passion of Good Friday and the silent burial of Holy Saturday before experiencing the upheaval of Easter Sunday. These great believers were not overwhelmed by the decline of faith. On the contrary, they saw in it the possible seeds of a great renewal, of a major spiritual event, putting an end to more than seventeen centuries of confusion between faith and politics which had distorted the message of Jesus: "This is my new commandment: love one another as I have loved you." As the theologian Urs von Balthazar said: "Only love is worthy of faith." This explains the fabulous popularity of Abbé Pierre and shows that the French, while not feeling Catholic, remain extraordinarily sensitive to the fundamental message of the Gospels.