On 9 December 1905, a law was passed in France seperating the church and the state. This law was based on three principles: the neutrality of the state, the freedom of exercice of religion, and public powers related to the church. This law is seen as the backbone of the French principle of laicité.

The law put and end to the funding of all cults and religion, and made all religious buildings property of the state. Other articles of the law included prohibiting fixing religious signs on public buildings, and that the republic no longer names the French archbishops or bishops.

The leading figures in the creation of the law were Aristide Briand, Émile Combes, Jean Jaurès and Francis de Pressens .

Aftermath

Initially, the Roman Catholics were seriously affected. They clearly had lost a lot of power, and the Vatican urged the catholic priests to fight in he name of catholicism. Pious X issued the Vehementer Nos encyclical denouncing the law as being against the constitution of the church