The Briand- Cerretti Agreement is a 1926 agreement whereby French

diocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

s are nominated by the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

after a process involving the French Ministries of the Interior and of

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy a ...

. See drop-down essay on "The Third Republic and the 1905 Law of Laïcité"

Description

This agreement saw the resolution of an impasse whereby the Vatican had refused to recognise the Associations Culturelles created by the

1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State The 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and State (French: ) was passed by the Chamber of Deputies on 9 December 1905. Enacted during the Third Republic, it established state secularism in France. France was then governed by the '' ...

extending the

1901 French law on associations Pierre Marie René Ernest Waldeck-Rousseau (; 2 December 184610 August 1904) was a French Republican politician who served as the Prime Minister of France. Early life Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau was born in Nantes, Brittany. His father, René Wa ...

; these laws had been 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 A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 st Edi ...

dioceses of

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...

and

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...

it has remained the

French President The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is ...

who, after consultations with the Vatican, makes the appointments of diocesan bishops, which are published in the ''

Journal officiel de la République Française A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization * Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, ...

''. The Briand-Cerretti agreement came after the forced retirement of the Benedictine

bishop of Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

, Willibrord Benzler, in 1919 and only provides a very vague analogy for the depositions at the

Liberation of France The liberation of France in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French Resistance. Nazi Germany inv ...

. Among the many consequences of this agreement was the reluctance 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, as mentioned 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 French nationality law is historically based on the principles of ''jus soli'' (Latin for "right of soil") and ''jus sanguinis'', according to Ernest Renan's definition, in opposition to the German definition of nationality, ''jus sanguinis'' ( ...

alone are employed in Catholic administration and schools in France. The 1926 agreement also involved the maintenance of liturgical honours, such as seating and incensing, paid to French consular personnel in the former Ottoman territories, as at the

Consulate General of France in Jerusalem The Consulate General of France in Jerusalem (french: Consulat Général de France à Jérusalem) began its tumultuous history in the early 17th century. In 1535, the date of the first Capitulation between France and the Ottoman Empire, France w ...

References

{{Subject bar , portal1= Catholicism , portal2= France , portal3= Vatican History of Catholicism in France 1926 in France 1926 in Christianity 1926 treaties

Description

See also

References