La « religion culturelle » en France et au Québec : quelques réflexions à partir de l’étude des Journées mondiales de la jeunesse

This article sheds light on the dynamics of ‘cultural Catholicism’ in France and Quebec, two French-speaking areas which were homogeneous Catholic societies and which are today affected by secularization and religious pluralization. To do this, it compares the reception of two World Youth Days (WYDs) : that of 1997 (Paris), and that of 2002 (Toronto). As they associate Catholicism with a global identity, WYDs weaken cultural religion, that aims to cement ethnic cohesion. The success of the device in France, and its relative failure in Quebec, reveal two regimes of religiosity at the turn of the millennium : In France, Catholicism only partially structures the national identity, which facilitates the adhesion to a globalist Catholic event. In Quebec, Catholicism remains an ambivalent pillar of the social imaginary, which hinders its celebration in a pan-Canadian and transnational frame.