Podcast: Pope in secular France, vultures and farmers, first divorce law

With its strong commitment to secularism, France is not an obvious place for Pope Leo XIV to stage an appearance, but his visit is drawing interest from Catholics and non-Catholics alike. After nearly disappearing from France, vultures are making a comeback, but their return has created new tensions with farmers. And France's revolutionary first divorce law from 1792.

Some 800,000 people have signed up to see Pope Leo XIV on his first official visit to France, a secular country where the Catholic faith no longer dominates. Francois Mabille , head of the Geopolitical Observatory of Religion at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, looks at why France is of interest to the Vatican, and young people of different religions talk about what Pope Leo means to them. (Listen @0'00)

Vultures all but disappeared from France by the 1940s as people sought to eradicate the scavenger birds. A programme to reintroduce the four European vulture species to the Grands Causses plateaux in the southern Massif Central has been sucessful – so successful that some farmers say there are now too many. We visit a vulture feeding station to explore the close relationship between vultures and agriculture, and the tensions that arise with the return of wild species. (Listen @20'00)

In 1792, France introduced one of Europe’s first and most liberal divorce laws, as part of a broader revolutionary effort to enact liberté, egalité et fraternité in the family itself. (Listen @14'00)

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com , Apple podcasts , Spotify or your favourite podcast app .

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