Restoration of churches: 56% of Catholics want to open churches to other activities

Visiting Mont-Saint-Michel, Emmanuel Macron announced the launch of a national subscription for unprotected religious heritage. An Ifop poll for Pèlerin Magazine today shows the attachment of the French to religious heritage. In order, they are attached to the castles (57% of them), to the small rural heritage (55%), then to the churches, for a third of the people questioned (33%). Next come archaeological sites (30%) and industrial heritage (25%). The stronger the religious practice, the higher this percentage. 82% of practicing Catholics are sensitive to the safeguarding of this heritage which they consider neglected, compared to 40% of non-practicing Catholics, 35% of believers of other religions and 14% of non-believing French people.

Among Catholics alone, almost half of respondents say they are close to the church in their neighborhood or village, proof that buildings play a structuring role. In this cohort, 73% say they are ready to support church restoration, and 13% are "very ready" to put their hands in their pocket.

The majority of people questioned (and even 56% of Catholics) finally say they are in favor of buildings hosting other activities outside of worship - including spaces to honor the dead (82%), to accommodate pilgrims (80 %) for music lessons (79%) or for shows (71%). Two thirds of those questioned believe that they can open up to associations, 55% think that churches can accommodate the homeless or a media library, 48% a solidarity grocery store and 45% support courses for schoolchildren or students.

France has 42,000 Catholic places of worship. Only 10,500 of them are classified as historical monuments, which gives them access to aid from the Ministry of Culture for restoration work. The Ministry of Culture is in the process of initiating a registration or classification campaign for unprotected religious buildings, dating mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries. The national subscription should, for its part, be launched next September, at the time of Heritage Days.

Survey conducted on April 11 and 12 on a representative sample of 1,015 people