Poll: France highly values Catholic schools, even as political turmoil swirls around them

(OSV News) -- A new opinion poll shows Catholic schools remain highly valued in France -- even as scandals and political turmoil swirl around them.

However, appreciation for Catholic education -- still considered prestigious in the country -- doesn't align with an appreciation of values that come with Catholicism, the poll said.

Sixty-seven percent of French people value the option of choosing between public schools and Catholic schools under contract with the state, according to a survey published Sept. 2 by the French Institute of Public Opinion, or IFOP, in partnership with the Catholic weekly Famille Chrétienne and France's largest Catholic radio station RCF-RND.

That support is especially strong among conservatives, but it’s also significant across the political spectrum -- even among parents with kids already in public schools. Sixty-five percent of them said they wanted to retain the freedom to enroll their children in Catholic schools if they deemed it appropriate, regardless of their religious and political beliefs.

"Despite the scandals, Catholic schools are holding up," reported Le Parisien weekly, emphasizing that the decline in the number of children enrolled in school, due to demographic decline, is having little impact on Catholic education.

Catholic education under contract with the state plays an important role in the French education system, with more than 2 million students, or 17% of all French students, enrolled in nearly 7,200 schools.

The poll comes after months of Catholic schools remaining in the eye of the media storms linked to the political repercussions of the "Bétharram affair." Since October 2023, a group of victims has denounced physical violence and grave sexual assaults committed by former clergy and lay staff at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram Catholic boarding school, in southern France, between 1950s and 2000s.

François Bayrou, who was forced to resign Sept. 8 as French prime minister, was for months accused by his political rivals of alleged negligence in the "Bétharram affair," which concerned his home region and family -- since his children were formerly educated at this school -- and his expertise, since he was a former minister of education.

On April 29, a National Assembly Commission of inquiry heard testimony from Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort of Reims, longtime president of the bishops' conference -- succeeded by Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline -- on the issue.

On July 2, the state commission on Bétharram issued its report, quoting "institutional silence," "silent complicity," and a "failing state," and the state being unable to control Catholic schools -- with following calls rising for a direct control of the state over Catholic schools, without any intermediary.

It is in this context that a new secretary general for Catholic education of the French bishops, layman Guillaume Prévost, took office on Sept. 1. Elected in April 2025 by the French bishops, this former naval officer is a graduate of the prestigious École Nationale d'Administration, educating the French political elite. He has worked at the Ministry of National Education, which he knows from the inside.

Among his tasks, Prévost must oversee the "Stop Violence" communication campaign, launched by the general secretariat of Catholic education in May 2025, to strengthen the training of all school staff on how to protect minors and vulnerable groups.

In the wake of the "Bétharram affair," Prévost's arrival coincided with the revelation of sexual abuse in another Catholic institution, Saint-Stanislas in Nantes, with cases of abuse perpetrated between 1958 and 1995, confirmed Aug. 29 by Bishop Laurent Percerou of Nantes, and involving five priests who were teachers and are now deceased.

For his part, Prévost reiterated his desire to collaborate with the public authorities to combat potential abuse in schools.

"The Bétharram affair requires us to better coordinate our actions with the public authorities, and we will deliver," he told La Croix L'Hebdo on Aug. 29. "It is excellent that the public authorities are taking a greater interest in Catholic schools," he added. He also warned against "the exploitation of the issue of violence" for political purposes, lamenting that the latest parliamentary report "aimed above all to place Catholic education under administrative supervision."

Despite controversies, Catholic education was able to report on the continued success of its schools at the start of the new school year.

The Sept. 2 poll however underlined that the Catholic identity of Catholic schools in France is of minimal importance for French society. Only 39% of respondents consider it legitimate for Catholic schools to offer "spiritual times" at school. A majority of them reject the principle of a Christian adaptation of the "emotional, relational, and sexual education," or EVARS courses imposed by the National Education System.

"The proposed vision, which decouples love and sexuality, is nevertheless the exact opposite of Christian anthropology," Famille Chrétienne said in their Sept. 2 report. "For many French people, the link between private education and Catholic identity is no longer automatic," Jérôme Fourquet, political scientist and analyst for IFOP, explained in Famille Chrétienne.

Younger generations are more favorable to the Catholic identity of private schools, Famille Chrétienne noted however. "This should be seen as the beginnings of a future landscape in which secularist tensions will give way to a renewed sense of goodwill and even expectation towards specifically Christian proposals."

In the meantime, more and more Catholic parents are drawn to private schools completely independent from the state, where they find a more homogeneous environment of practicing Catholic families.

At a Sept. 3 press conference in Paris, the association "Créer son école" ("Create your own school") presented statistics showing the "sharp increase" in enrollment in Catholic schools in recent years.

"I understand these parents' concerns," Prévost told Famille Chrétienne, while encouraging practicing Catholics to get involved in state-contracted Catholic schools. They are not only for Catholics, he said, "but they need to be animated and enlivened by witnesses and disciples of Christ."