Geneva: Protestant in mind but not in body

International Museum of the Reformation

The city of Calvin may have been one of the birthplaces of the Reformation but Geneva ceased to be home to a Protestant majority a long time ago.

Catholics now outnumber them more than two to one, but this does not stop many from claiming that Geneva remains Protestant at heart.

“I think the influence of the Reformed Protestants still has a very important place in Geneva,” says Isabelle Graesslé, director of Geneva’s International Museum of the Reformation.

“Of course the statistics show that Geneva is a cosmopolitan, international city, with a significant minority of Protestants, but at the same time a Protestant culture, particular to this city, is still alive.”

The number of Protestants in Geneva has dropped by more than half since 1970. The last census seven years ago revealed that they made up only 16 per cent of the canton’s religious landscape.

The number of Catholics has also fallen over the same period but on nothing like the same scale. Successive waves of Italian, Spanish and Portuguese immigrants since the 1950s have kept levels at around 40 per cent.

“In the classical, reformed country that is Switzerland, the Protestant churches have lost their majority vis-à-vis the Catholics. This is rather surprising, as Switzerland is traditionally a classical Protestant country,” notes Judith Könemann of the Swiss Pastoral-Sociological Institute.

“It is considered that this is a result of migration in the past 15-20 years, bringing in more people of the Catholic faith. This has resulted in the traditional Protestant canton of Geneva becoming majority Catholic.”

Catholic “foreigners”

According to historian Bernard Lescaze, Protestants held sway right up until the end of the 19th century. But the arrival of Catholic “foreigners” – from France and the Swiss cantons of Valais and Fribourg – saw them hold a slight majority.

Figures then remained stable until the end of the Second World War when immigrants from southern Europe significantly boosted Catholic numbers.

“Even in 1900 I think most Genevans were unaware that the majority of inhabitants were Catholic. When people hear how many Protestants there are today, I think many of them are very surprised,” he said.

Lescaze, too, is convinced that the city holds close to its Protestant roots, both sociologically and mentally. Sociologically, because a number of the old moneyed families are Protestant, such as the Pictet family, which own the eponymous private bank.

And mentally, because of the reaction by Geneva voters to two nationwide ballots regarding the Catholic Church.

Catholic bishoprics

In 2001 the Swiss voted by a 2-1 majority in favour of a change to the constitution, ending the state’s ability to determine the number of Roman Catholic bishoprics in the country. Lescaze says that in Geneva, with its large Catholic base, the majority was much narrower.

A similar reticence was apparent in Geneva in 1974 with a nationwide vote on the establishment of Jesuits in Switzerland.

Indeed Geneva is far from the hotbed of religious intrigue that it once was. The last census revealed that almost a quarter of the population were not affiliated to any church, while 15 per cent failed to respond to the question of their religious persuasion.

Various reasons have been put forward for this: the high proportion of foreigners and the fact maybe not all of them understand census questions; the difficulty in getting responses from the diplomatic community; and maybe a desire to keep their religious views private.

Graesslé, who is a pastor and theologian, believes there are many Protestants among these numbers who no longer see themselves as part of the church.

“When I look at the evolution of the history of Geneva and how this city has been shaped by the culture of the Reformation over the centuries, it cannot be removed that easily,” she says.

swissinfo, Adam Beaumont

Key facts

Geneva voted to adopt the Reformation in 1536.
The number of Roman Catholics and Protestants in Geneva has fallen by more than 55% since 1970.
The number of “non-affiliated” in Geneva stands at 23% – one of the highest in the country.