“If I come to Marseille, I’m not going to France. » In an interview given to the Spanish magazine New Life, on August 4, Pope Francis sets the tone for his visit to Marseille on September 22 and 23. On the program for these Mediterranean Meetings: debates on migration, on inequalities, but also a mass at the Orange Vélodrome stadium, in which Emmanuel Macron plans to participate. Pro-immigration positions, reform of the Roman curia, fight against clericalism… Pope Francis is pushing his policy within a Church where he arouses some enmity. Martin Dumont, historian of Catholicism and professor at the University of Paris IV Sorbonne, analyzes for Marianne the behavior of Pope Francis, often criticized by the European clergy.
Marianne:In ten years of pontificate, can we say that Pope Francis has shaken up the European clergy?