DIOCESAN ASSOCIATIONS. — In France, the law of 9 December 1905, denying legal personality to all ecclesiastical entities and consequently the capacity to hold property, replaced them with a single new type of entity, the cult association (association cultuelle), possessing limited capacity to hold property (among other things, the associations established within one year were to receive the assets of the suppressed ecclesiastical entities), but broad powers, within their respective districts, regarding everything connected with the exercise of worship.
The condemnation by the Holy See (encyclical Vehementer nos, 11 February 1906; encyclical Gravissimo officio, 10 August 1906) and the unanimous opposition of French Catholics induced the legislature to temper the rigors of the law of 1905, permitting the public exercise of worship even without a cult association, and leaving the faithful and ministers of religion, where no cult association existed, the use of sacred buildings (law of 2 January 1907).
As relations between France and the Holy See improved during the war of 1914–18, and diplomatic relations were restored in 1921, unofficial negotiations were begun to regulate the condition of the Church in France. Meanwhile, however, the question of the cult associations was resolved by the bishop of Nice, who proposed the establishment, on the basis of the French law of 1901 on associations, of a new type of entity, the diocesan association, whose statutes would ensure the preponderance of the bishop in the association’s activities and respect for the exclusive competence of the Church regarding the exercise of worship. Since the proposal was recognized as conforming to the principles of canon law by the other French bishops and by the Holy See, and as conforming to French laws first by a com-
commission of jurists appointed by the president of the Council (opinions of 7 April and 8 December 1923), and subsequently also by the Council of State (opinion of 13 December 1923), Pope Pius XI (encyclical Maximam gravissimamque, 18 January 1924) approved the Statute of the new associations, also explaining that the reasons which had led to the condemnation of the associations for worship did not apply to them.
While the latter, in fact, had among their purposes that of providing for the public exercise of worship, the diocesan associations (with whose establishment there is now only one ecclesiastical entity, civilly recognized, in each diocese of France) have as their purpose “to provide for the expenses and maintenance of worship, under the authority of the bishop, in communion with the Holy See, and in conformity with the constitution of the Church” (art. 2 of the Statute), and they are expressly prohibited from “any interference in the organization of divine worship, in the spiritual administration of the diocese, particularly in the appointments and transfers of members of the clergy, as well as in the direction, teaching, and spiritual administration of seminaries” (art. 4). Moreover, the association may not be established without the consent of the bishop, who is its president by right (art. 30).
The diocesan association falls within the same category as declared associations (acquisition of legal personality by declaration to the prefecture) and possesses the legal capacity accorded to associations for worship. Changes in French legislation on this subject were introduced in a manner favorable to the Church in 1942; but it is not yet possible to know what their fate will be.