Hundreds of thousands expected in Paris for Pope's visit

In fact his paternal grandmother was born in Le Havre in Normandy in 1894. When she married in the US many years later she and her Italian husband took the name Prevost, which had been her mother's maiden-name.France has a historically complex relationship with the Catholic Church of Rome. The country was long known as the "Eldest Daughter of the Church" because supposedly, but inaccurately, it was the first kingdom to convert to Christianity. Actually Armenia, Georgia and Ethiopia preceded it.In the 14th Century the papacy came in exile to Avignon in southern France, and over following centuries French armies periodically intervened in Italian politics, where popes were secular rulers as well as heads of the Church. Napoleon held two popes in captivity.Recent popes have all come to France, most notably John-Paul II, who came several times between 1980 and 2004, and Pope Francis who came three times, but avoided Paris, going instead to Strasbourg, Marseilles and Corsica.Getty ImagesPope John Paul II, pictured here in Paris in 1980, visited many timesToday France has secularised with the rest of Europe, and less than half of the population identifies as Catholic.The number of regular worshippers has fallen from 35% of the population in 1960 to less than 5% today, while the number of priests has shrunk by two-thirds from 25,000 in 1990 to fewer than 9,000.