| Anticlericalism in France During the Third Republic |
| Anticlericalism, the distrust of Catholic
priests, became an important issue in the French Third Republic in the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The issue had long been a
problem within the Church. Before and after Martin Luther and the
creation of Protestantism, priests have claimed to be the sole authority
in the Church government and the only members capable of exercising
sacramental powers. They portray themselves as forerunners of moral and
ethical issues, yet are commonly believed to be incapable of following
their own strict doctrine of celibacy, and to be guilty of arrogance.
Yet despite all these traditional points of conflict, few problems had
been caused within France since the reign of Napoleon in the early
1800s. However, following the Revolutions of 1848 and the emergence of
the Third Republic as France’s governing body, a shift to the political
left brought with it new policies designed to secularize public life. In 1880, Prme Minister Jules Ferry instituted a series of educational reform laws that carried anticlerical elements. In addition to establishing, for the first time, free, compulsory, secular elementary schools, Ferry banned all clergy from public schools, and all nuns from hospitals. This was partly in reaction to France’s embarrassing defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, an outcome credited largely to the Prussians’ superior educational system. While certain elements of these reforms are doubtlessly laudable accomplishments, specifically creating schools open to the public for no cost, secularizing education so proved a divisive step and destabilized the republic in ensuing years, alienating the large bloc of pious Catholics within France’s populace. A bitter internal divide in France was created which contributed to infighting over scandals throughout the next several decades. French Catholics grew to hate not only Ferry but the entire structure of the Third Republic, seriously threatening the stability of the troubled regime. By the 1890s, realizing the instability of the situation and the legitimacy of the government, despite his disagreements with its policy, the Pope himself was forced to order French Catholics to accept their government. This edict, known as Ralliement, was still yet ignored but many in France who were willing to disregard a Papal request in order to indulge in their hatred of the government. In 1902, atheist Prime Minister Emile Combes acted against Church authorities once again. Combes forbid all religious clerics from teaching of any sort, expelled many from the country, closed virtually all Catholic churches for most of their functions, seized Church property, and broke diplomatic ties with the Vatican. Three years later, Combes continued his anticlerical policies by forbidding the discussion of any religious topic, whatsoever, in the new public schools, and banning the display of any new religious symbols in public space, including graveyards. Like Ferry’s more moderate actions twenty years prior, these reforms brought controversy and resentment among many in the French public. Though the Third Republic would hold through France’s greatest crisis, the First World War, political dichotomies caused by these reforms played a crucial roll in the decay of the regime after that conflict. Sources Anticlericalism. <http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/anticler.htm> France's great paradox to pursue secularism with religious zeal. <http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/11/1076388433814.html?from=storyrhs&oneclick=true> Timeline of French Treaties and Laws. <http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/1777/papers/ehfrdate.html>
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