But they haven’t always: After the French Revolution, Notre-Dame was used as a warehouse. And they haven’t lately: Just 6 percent go to Mass, down from 35 percent half a century ago. Certainly, too, the continuing relevance of Catholicism to French life has been underestimated. Today, as that generation ages and dies, a demographic trapdoor opens under the religious population. There are fewer than half as many French parish priests today as in 1992.

Source: New York Times April 20, 2019 18:30 UTC