SW News: France has started a new effort to restore and upgrade its dilapidated rural churches, especially ones that are old. This is part of a larger plan to identify cultural structures as historic monuments to aid in their preservation.

President Emmanuel Macron visited Mont-Saint-Michel in Manche, Normandy, where the idea was announced on June 5. He made the visit to the historic pilgrimage site of St Michael the Archangel, which is celebrating its 1000th birthday. President Macron said he wants to open the door to the beginning of a subscription that will be specifically dedicated to religious buildings. The president also said that since many French citizens take part in the heritage lottery, which was introduced during his first term, they are already receptive to the notion. These structures are not only harmed more regularly and frequently by vandalism and neglect but also by climate change caused by increasing humidity and invasive plants. And for that reason, according to Macron, a strategy to save these structures is required.

Macron's action is in response to lawmakers who penned an open letter to the president in February with the intention of saving the churches. They continued by urging measures to stop the demise of rural churches. Every time a church is destroyed, a piece of France's soul is lost, they said in the letter. An earlier study showed that around 2,500 to 5,000 church buildings will be lost by the year 2030 if nothing is done to save them from falling into ruin.

The statement from the Elysée said: Preserving our heritage is one of the priorities of the French President's cultural policy. The French finance ministry stated that it will "study" the issue between now and September and was contemplating whether any future subscription payments would allow the donor to receive a tax break.

The statement said there was still work to be done in terms of considering the uniqueness of these structures, the quality of their surroundings, their decorative aspects, and the quality of their architecture.

"Today we may be better able to appreciate them than we were a few decades ago," it continued.

The Interior Minister spent €57 million on restoring religious heritage in 2022, and over the previous five years, €280 million was spent on 8,265 projects, according to the Elysée statement.