The Briand-Ceretti Agreement is an agreement whereby French diocesan bishops are nominated by the Vatican after a process involving the French Ministries of the Interior and of Foreign Affairs.
This agreement saw the resolution of an impasse whereby the Vatican had refused to recognise the Associations Cultuelles voted in the 1905 legislation in the spirit of the 1901 Loi sur les Associations and accepted by the Jewish and Protestant religious bodies. The agreement made possible the forming of Associations Diocésaines with members appointed by the bishops.
In the case of the Concordat dioceses of Strasbourg and Metz it is the French President who, after consultations with the Vatican, makes the appointment.
Among the many consequences of this agreement was the reticence to appoint ordinaries likely to call into question the spoliations and expropriations that the French church underwent between 1790 and 1905. The veto has been rarely used but its existence induces caution in nunciature circles when proposing candidates. Disagreements are known from time to time to occur (e.g. a reference by the former ambassador to the Vatican Jean Guégenou on France-Culture on 13 July 2009). The system also indirectly ensures that, almost without exception, French citizens alone are employed in Catholic administration and schools in France.
See also
- Concordat of 1801
- Catholic Church in France
- 1905 French law on the separation of Church and State
- French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools
- French legislation for the prevention and repression of cultic groups
This Catholic Church–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |