The Church in Crisis

The Gallican Church, long the monarchy's ideological support, experienced its own crisis that weakened the throne-altar alliance. Enlightenment criticism undermined religious authority while internal divisions between Jansenists and Jesuits created scandal. The clergy's vast wealth—perhaps 10% of French land—attracted criticism as poverty persisted. Recruitment declined as ecclesiastical careers lost prestige. These religious troubles deprived monarchy of crucial legitimation.

The suppression of the Jesuits (1764) demonstrated royal weakness rather than strength. The Society of Jesus, long supporters of royal authority and confessors to kings, fell victim to Jansenist parliamentary revenge and Enlightenment hostility. Louis XV's reluctant agreement to suppression, forced by parliamentary pressure and influenced by Pompadour, alienated devout Catholics without satisfying philosophes. The destruction of the church's most disciplined teaching order weakened religious education precisely when Enlightenment ideas spread.

Lower clergy increasingly diverged from the hierarchy. Parish priests, often poor and influenced by Jansenist ideas about primitive church equality, resented wealthy bishops' luxury. Richerist ideas about clerical democracy challenged episcopal authority. Many priests sympathized with their parishioners' complaints about taxation and privilege. This clerical division would prove crucial when the Estates-General convened, as lower clergy allied with the Third Estate rather than their ecclesiastical superiors.

Popular religious practice showed contradictory trends. Traditional devotions persisted in rural areas while urban elites embraced deism or skepticism. Miraculous cures and apparitions attracted crowds while philosophes mocked superstition. Confraternities and religious festivals maintained community solidarity while losing spiritual significance. This religious complexity defied simple categorization but clearly indicated the unified Catholic culture that had supported monarchy was fragmenting.