FRANCE
The new “House” of the French Bishops’ Conference was shown on 29 May. It is located in the heart of Paris. “Giving the Church a new visibility”; “strengthening work in common, synergy and collaboration among the different services (over 150 people)”; and “fostering reception and meetings between the bishops and the people in charge coming from France and from all the regions in the world, passing through Paris”: those are the reasons for the new headquarters, it is written in a note by the Bishops’ Conference, made known on the occasion. “A new chapter! In this month of May 2007, we are pleased to write this chapter through the opening of the House of the Bishops of France”, said the Secretary General, Msgr. Stanislas Lalanne. “For four years – he added, – we have worked to restore this location”. “Under the impulse by Card. Jean-Pierre Ricard, I was responsible for following the project hour after hour”. The building (58, Avenue de Breteuil) can host the whole staff; it offers people modern work environments, meeting rooms, a documentation centre with a library, and an amphitheatre with 160 places. In France, there are 93 metropolitan dioceses and 9 dioceses situated on the territories over the sea. The bishops are 120; the priests are 20,381 (15,957 diocesans and 4,424 religious).
