French bishops defend Catholic schools amid unrest

By Caroline De Sury

OSV News

France’s bishops used their Nov. 3-5 plenary assembly in Lourdes to confront the country’s deepening education crisis, as strikes, school blockades and political battles over funding have pushed the issue to the forefront of public debate.

Advertisement

Church leaders said concerns about young people’s anxiety and uncertainty prompted a major Catholic education initiative launched in 2025 and continuing through 2028.

“We knew that the younger generations were uncertain and anxious,” Bishop Benoît Bertrand, one of two vice presidents of the bishops’ conference, emphasized. “But when we launched this initiative a year ago, we did not expect this issue to become so urgent or to take on the scale we are seeing today.”

The 80 diocesan directors of Catholic education were present in Lourdes along with the bishop conference’s secretary general of Catholic education, layman Guillaume Prévost, who was appointed in 2025.

Catholic schools in France educate over two million students in over 7,200 schools, about 17 per cent of the nation’s total student population.

The assembly came days after French lawmakers debated a proposal to end government funding for teachers in Catholic schools. The measure was ultimately rejected, averting what Catholic education leaders warned could have triggered widespread school closures and added pressure to an already strained public system.

Advertisement

“We want relationships based on mutual respect among all those involved in education,” said Prévost, secretary general of Catholic education. “We believe that the Catholic education system is an asset for the entire country, but we try as much as possible to reach out to everyone, including those who criticize it.”

Bishop Matthieu Rougé, president of the bishops’ Council for Catholic Education, called for attention to the “search for meaning” expressed by the protests in high schools that rocked France in recent weeks.

“Our country is going through turbulent times, and we are clearly dealing with a deeply wounded society,” he said. “There is a great thirst for meaning among our contemporaries, young and old alike, for whom, at times, the inability to find it leads to violent protests.”

“We stand in full solidarity with the teachers who are voicing their difficulties today,” Prévost added. “We must take care of the adults who take care of the children.”

For Prévost, one of the reasons for the crisis in education is “the rise in tensions between school staff and families.”

“In this regard, Catholic education is facing fewer difficulties than public education,” he noted. “There is a strong tradition and culture of supporting children in Catholic schools that relies on collaboration with families. That is one of their strengths.”

But Prévost also highlighted the fragility of families themselves. 

Advertisement

“It is no coincidence that schools are struggling,” he said. “The family is the institution that has been most disrupted in recent times. Inevitably, the weakening of families due to conflicts has repercussions at school.”

Beyond education, the bishops addressed the upcoming presidential election, scheduled spring of 2027, which is expected to be highly tense and polarized. The latest polls suggested that the second round would pit Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, the Rassemblement National, against Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left party, France Insoumise. Mélenchon clearly implied that if Marine Le Pen wins — as all polls predict for now — riots could destabilize the country.

(Caroline de Sury writes for OSV News from Paris.)

A version of this article appeared in the November 15, 2026 issue of The Catholic Register with the headline "French bishops defend Catholic schools amid unrest".