History of the Catholic Church
Throughout the lifetime of the Third Republic there were battles over the status of the Catholic Church. The French clergy and bishops were linked to the Monarchists. Republicans were based in the anticlerical middle class who saw the Church as a political threat to republicanism and progress. The Republicans detested the church for its political and class affiliations; for them, the church represented outmoded traditions, superstition and monarchism. The Republicans were strengthened by Protestant and Jewish support. Numerous laws were passed to weaken the Catholic Church. Napoleon's 1801 Concordat continued in operation but in 1881, the government cut off salaries to priests it disliked.