CHURCH AND STATE

Later events of interest in French history had to do with the status of the Catholic Church in France and with the relations of France, Germany and Spain to Morocco, the latter more than once threatening war. The union of Church and State in France, which had only before been broken during the turbulent period of the Revolution, was definitely abrogated by a law of December 19, 1905, proclaiming the separation of Church and State in that country. By this, and a supplementary act in 1907, the Catholic church was put on the same footing in the republic as the Protestant and Jewish congregations. The use of church buildings, which had been the property of the state since the Revolution, was granted only under conditions which the Pope refused to accept, and religious liberty made a radical advance in France.