Before a devastating 2019 blaze ravaged the landmark, Notre Dame was among the most visited buildings in Europe. Once the cathedral reopens on December 7 and 8, 14 to 15 million visitors a year are expected to visit.

But where tourists to London's St Paul's have to pay 25 pounds (NZ$54) and non-praying visitors to Milan's Duomo need to pay at least 10 euros (NZ$18), those wishing to marvel at France's most famous religious building could previously do so without opening their wallets.

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Despite ongoing discussions about rising secularism, the French Catholic Church has witnessed a steady increase in adult baptisms over the past decade as revealed in a French Bishops' Conference report.

Among the newly baptised were 7,135 adults, with 36 percent aged between 18 and 25, and 5,000 people aged between 11 and 17.

Olivier Leborgne, Bishop of Arras, described it as a "movement of bewildering proportions".

He suggested that individuals turn to the Church for spiritual solace amidst today's disoriented world.

Vincent Breynaert, head of the Office for Youth Pastoral Care and Vocations, highlighted the phenomenon's broad reach, extending beyond urban centres to working-class towns and rural areas.

"These young people are not primarily an expression of a search for identity, but of a genuine spiritual thirst and a search for meaning in a secularised society.

"Many cite testimonies of faith on the internet as motivation, others the beauty of the liturgy or the calming silence in a church" Breynaert added.

Influence of grandparents

However, Breynaert emphasises that some young people also have some catching up to do.

"They regret their parents' decision not to have them baptised" says the youth pastor.

For others, the testimony of their grandparents is crucial - "especially the simplicity with which they speak of God".

Pope Francis had previously expressed similar thoughts in 2019 when he said that grandparents make a decisive contribution to their religious upbringing.

Béatrice Schenckery, head of a catechumenate team in Evreux in Normandy, also confirms the value of grandparents on the path to faith. She said many catechumens have told her that they learnt to pray from their grandparents.

Yet the significant rise in baptisms among young people prompted questions about the Church's approach in France.

Contrary to other European countries where church attendance declined after confirmation, the French Church experienced a reversal.

Bishop Leborgne and Breynaert attributed this to increased programmes for youth by dioceses and contributions from Catholic movements like scouts and charismatic communities.

Breynaert acknowledged the challenge of integrating new believers into their families, schools and parishes.

"Their journey and their decision to become Christians are a challenge for their families and their friends at school. But they are also a challenge for the youth ministry and the parishes which have to prepare for their reception and integration.

"But it won't stop there because we already know that the number of young people who will be baptised in 2025 "will undoubtedly be higher".

Sources

Katholisch

CBN

CathNews New Zealand

The introduction of these wallet-sized ID cards aims to enhance transparency within the Catholic Church and clamp down on sexual abuse. However, the move has received mixed reactions from sex abuse survivor groups.

Upon scanning the QR code with a mobile phone, a green, orange, or red light will appear, indicating the priest's status and career history.

The primary purpose of the ID card is to confirm whether a priest is qualified to conduct mass or hear confessions, while also disclosing if he has been stripped of his clerical status.

Although the card does not provide explicit details about the reasons for the loss of clerical status, the red colour code acts as an early warning signal that the priest may have faced sexual abuse charges.

By simply scanning the QR code on the ID card, anyone can access colour-coded information about a clergy member.

A green light signifies no restrictions on their ability to lead mass or hear confessions. An orange light indicates some limitations, which may be due to factors other than abuse, such as recent ordination.

The red light is reserved for individuals who can no longer practice as clergy or have been stripped of their clerical status, without specifying the exact nature of the sanction.

Currently, French Catholic priests are required to possess a "celebret," a paper document confirming their profession and qualifications. Critics argue that these documents are burdensome to keep updated, leading to calls for a centralised digital database.

"One of the Catholic Church's top three most stupid ideas"

Christine Pedotti, who runs the Christian weekly magazine "Témoignage Chrétien" (Christian Witness), said the paper IDs "had always been used by priests while travelling, for example, to prove to another priest that they were authorised to co-lead a mass."

"Today's updated digital version is more modern and has a new feature that allows someone to check whether the priest has been suspended. It's a good idea given the current context, and should prove quite useful," she said.

However, the move has been described as a public relations stunt by abuse survivor groups critical of the change.

"It's quite an exceptional measure which, in my opinion, is one of the Catholic Church's top three most stupid ideas," said François Devaux, former president of La Parole Libérée (The Liberated Word), told France 24, the French international news television network

He called the ID cards a "publicity stunt" and said, "This new ineptitude is a sign of the Church's idleness."

Despite the backlash, the French Catholic Church says the cards are just one of many solutions to combat sexual abuse.

The French Bishop's Conference says bishops have already received their cards, and all 18,000 priests and deacons across the country will receive their QR codes by the end of the year.

Sources

The Telegraph

The Messenger

France24

Then in November, the French Catholic Academy published a 15-page critique of the report.

The Academy has about 70 members.

"The most serious defects of the CIASE report, in addition to a faulty and contradictory methodology and serious deficiencies in the theological, philosophical and legal fields, concern its recommendations," the Academy claimed.

The Academy's analysis led to a December 9 meeting between Pope Francis and CIASE being cancelled.

Sauvé has now rebutted the Academy's charges in a 50-page response.

"The Catholic Academy was not trying to have a debate and contribute to the truth, but rather to engage in a trial against the accused and in a smear campaign," he said.

"At the end of the careful examination of the analysis ... nothing remains of the very serious criticisms ...".

Offering a nuanced assessment of the figures it presented, the CIASE report said an estimated 216,000 children were abused by priests, deacons, monks, and nuns from 1950 to 2020.

When abuse by other Church workers was included, the report said "the estimated number of child victims rises to 330,000 for the whole of the period".

We cannot ensure "there is no significant bias affecting these estimates," the report explained. Furthermore, "we cannot affirm that the estimates produced are far from the true values".

It said, "as a matter of principle, all statistics derived from a survey are subject to errors ... and all reasoning about quality is done ‘on average' ... there is never a total guarantee, because there is always an error due to sampling and non-response and, at most, it can be said that the estimate is '(very) probably' close to reality".

He said he had called upon expert advisors to confirm the validity of the Independent Commission's working method and results.

"The chosen method is used by all polling institutes and our researchers took precautions to reduce bias," he said.

"Our results are comparable to those of probability surveys conducted on very similar subjects over the last ten years.

"The main risk is that of underestimating the number of victims".

The report identified negligence and institutional failures - these are systemic elements common to any institution that welcomes minors, while some are specific to the Catholic Church.

Sauvé noted the Academy does not accept that the Church has entrusted the subject of pedocriminality in its midst to persons other than clerics.

For the Academy, reparation can be decided only by a court.

This is exactly the opposite of what all the episcopal conferences in the world have decided in terms of reparation for the consequences of abuse.

"The Academy is going against the very clear teachings of the pope himself on priesthood, clericalism, reparation and being self-referential. This is shameful for people who thought they had to denounce us to him."

Source

• CNA
• La Croix
• Image: Dierso.com

The 70-year-old archbishop, who was installed in the French capital in 2018 says he wrote to the pope out of a concern to preserve the unity of his archdiocese.

"The word ‘resignation' is not the one I used," he says.

"Resignation would mean that I am abandoning my office. In reality, I am handing it over to the Holy Father because it is he who gave it to me."

In its article, Le Point magazine alleged Aupetit had a consensual, intimate relationship with a woman. Its report relied on several anonymous sources who said they had seen a 2012 email Aupetit sent by mistake to his secretary.

Aupetit denied being the author of the email and told Le Point that he didn't have intimate and sexual relations with the woman.

Calling it a "mistake," he said he decided not to see the woman any more after speaking with Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, the then-Paris archbishop, at the beginning of 2012.

"My behavior towards her may have been ambiguous, thus suggesting the existence between us of an intimate relationship and sexual relations, which I strongly refute … I decided not to see her again and I informed her.

"Those who knew me at the time and who shared my daily life would certainly tell that I was not living a double life, as the article suggests," he said.

"I recognize, as I have said before, that handled the situation poorly with a person who was in contact many times with me."

Aupetit says he has also spoken to Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, about his situation and to Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the apostolic nuncio to France.

"This is not because of what I should or should not have done in the past — otherwise I would have left a long time ago — but to avoid division, if I myself am a source of division," he said.

Source

• The Globe and Mail
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: National Catholic Reporter