Editing Separation of church and state (section)

===France===
{{See also|Laïcité|1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State|Catholic Church in France}}
[[File:Gérard - Signature du Concordat entre la France et le Saint-Siège, le 15 juillet 1801.jpg|thumb|The Signing of the [[Concordat of 1801]] between France and the Holy See, 15 July 1801., which was repealed by the 1905 French law on the Separation of Church and State]]
[[File:Liberte-egalite-fraternite-tympanum-church-saint-pancrace-aups-var.jpg|thumb|right|Motto of the French republic on the [[Tympanum (architecture)|tympanum]] of a church in [[Aups]], Var département, which was installed after the 1905 law on the Separation of the State and the Church. Such inscriptions on a church are very rare; this one was restored during the 1989 bicentennial of the [[French Revolution]].]]
The French version of separation of church and state, called ''[[laïcité]]'', is a product of French history and philosophy. It was formalized in a [[1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State|1905 law]] providing for the separation of church and state, that is, the separation of religion from political power.

This model of a secularist state protects the religious institutions from state interference, but with public religious expression to some extent frowned upon. This aims to protect the public power from the influences of religious institutions, especially in public office. Religious views which contain no idea of public responsibility, or which consider religious opinion irrelevant to politics, are not impinged upon by this type of secularization of public discourse.

Former President [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] criticised "negative {{Lang|fr|laïcité}}" and talked about a "positive {{Lang|fr|laïcité}}" that recognizes the contribution of faith to French culture, history and society, allows for faith in the public discourse and for government subsidies for faith-based groups.<ref name="christiantoday.com">Beita, Peter B. [http://www.christiantoday.com/article/french.presidents.religious.mixing.riles.critics/16423.htm French President's religious mixing riles critics] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420223313/http://www.christiantoday.com/article/french.presidents.religious.mixing.riles.critics/16423.htm |date=April 20, 2016 }} Christianity Today, January 23, 2008</ref> He visited the [[Pope]] in December 2007 and publicly emphasized France's [[Catholic Church in France|Catholic]] roots, while highlighting the importance of [[freedom of thought]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.christiantoday.com/article/sarkozy.breaks.french.taboo.on.church.and.politics/15760.htm |title=Sarkozy breaks French taboo on church and politics |publisher=Christiantoday.com |date=2007-12-23 |access-date=2012-04-27 |archive-date=2012-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207184301/http://www.christiantoday.com/article/sarkozy.breaks.french.taboo.on.church.and.politics/15760.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> advocating that [[faith]] should come back into the [[public sphere]]. [[François Hollande]] took a very different position during the [[2012 French presidential election|2012 presidential election]], promising to insert the concept of {{Lang|fr|laïcité}} into the constitution. In fact, the French constitution only says that the French Republic is "{{Lang|fr|laïque}}" but no article in the 1905 law or in the constitution defines {{Lang|fr|laïcité}}.<ref>{{cite news |title=French president rejects calls for secular values to be in constitution|url=http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1200356.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130215164402/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1200356.htm|archive-date=2013-02-15|url-status=dead|access-date=2 February 2013|newspaper=Catholic News|date=January 27, 2012}}</ref>

Nevertheless, there are certain entanglements in France which include:
* The most significant example consists in two areas, [[Alsace]] and [[Moselle]] (see {{format link|Local law in Alsace–Moselle#Religion}} for further detail), where the 1802 [[Concordat#France|Concordat]] between France and the Holy See still prevails because the area was part of Germany when the [[1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State]] was passed and the attempt of the laicist [[Cartel des gauches]] in 1924 failed due to public protests. Catholic priests as well as the clergy of three other religions (the Lutheran [[EPCAAL]], the Calvinist [[EPRAL]], and Jewish [[Consistory (Judaism)|consistories]]) are paid by the state, and schools have religion courses. Moreover, the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Metz|Catholic bishops of Metz]] and [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Strasbourg|of Strasbourg]] are named (or rather, formally appointed) by the French Head of State on proposition of the Pope. In the same way, the presidents of the two official Protestant churches are appointed by the State, after proposition by their respective Churches. This makes the French President the only temporal power in the world to formally have retained the right to appoint Catholic bishops, all other Catholic bishops being appointed by the Pope.
* In French Guiana the Royal Regulation of 1828 makes the French state pay for the Roman Catholic clergy, but not for the clergy of other religions.
* In the French oversea departments and territories since the 1939 décret Mandel the French State supports the Churches.
* The French President is ''ex officio'' a [[co-prince of Andorra]], where Roman Catholicism has a status of state religion (the other co-prince being the [[Bishop of Urgell|Roman Catholic Bishop of Seu de Urgell]], Spain). Moreover, French heads of states are traditionally offered an honorary title of [[Canon (priest)|Canon]] of the [[Basilica of St. John Lateran|Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran]], Cathedral of Rome. Once this honour has been awarded to a newly elected president, France pays for a ''choir vicar'', a priest who occupies the seat in the canonical chapter of the Cathedral in lieu of the president (all French presidents have been male and at least formally Roman Catholic, but if one were not, this honour could most probably not be awarded to him or her). The French President also holds a seat in a few other canonical chapters in France.
* Another example of the complex ties between France and the Catholic Church consists in the {{Lang|fr|Pieux Établissements de la France à Rome et à Lorette}}: five churches in Rome ([[Trinità dei Monti]], St. Louis of the French, St. Ivo of the Bretons, St. Claude of the Free County of Burgundy, and St. Nicholas of the Lorrains) as well as a chapel in [[Loreto, Marche|Loreto]] belong to France, and are administered and paid for by a special foundation linked to the French embassy to the Holy See.
* In [[Wallis and Futuna]], a French overseas territory, national education is conceded to the diocese, which gets paid for it by the State.
* A further entanglement consists in liturgical honours accorded to French consular officials under Capitations with the Ottoman Empire which persist for example in Lebanon and in ownership of the Catholic cathedral in Smyrna (Izmir) and the extraterritoriality of St. Anne's in Jerusalem and more generally the diplomatic status of the Holy Places.