Priests “from elsewhere” as the Catholic Church describes them are numerous in France: they are estimated to be around 3,000, or 20% of all priests on French territory. Figures that skyrocketed in the 1990s, due to several factors: decline in vocations in France, aging of active priests, secularization of society, so churches are recruiting elsewhere.
The most numerous are the “fidei donum” priests, who move from abroad to France for 3 to 6 years, sometimes more, under an agreement between two dioceses. Others travel for study missions and some come from abroad for a few months to fill in during the summer holidays for local priests. In France, 80% of these priests “from elsewhere” are from the African continent: missionary priests from the South to the North. Meetings and report with several priests from the African continent in France.
guest in the studio : Corinne Valasik, lecturer in sociology, Catholic Institute of Paris; statutory researcher at the Societies, Religions and Secularism Group of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes – CNRS.
Reporting during the “return” session organized by the CEF (Conference of Bishops of France), with testimonies from several priests from the DRC, Madagascar, Ivory Coast, Benin,…
Reporting with the parish priest of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, the Rwandan priest Benoît Hagenimana, recently incardinated by the diocese of Créteil.