In France, the nineteenth century was characterized by a sharp opposition between the republicans, heirs of the French revolution, and the Catholic Church. This opposition led, in 1905, to the separation of the Catholic Church and the State.
The coexistence between Catholic Universities and the State was not always easy, and it is still not easy nowadays.
The Catholic Universities became the only places where enough competencies are gathered to have a scientific approach to Christian Tradition, and at the same time, to allow this Tradition to keep up a conversation with the contemporary culture.