Diocèse de Besançon

What Diocèse de Besançon does

The Diocese of Besançon is a Roman Catholic archdiocese headquartered at 3 Rue de la Convention, Besançon, France, covering the Doubs and Haute-Saône departments in eastern France. It is one of the oldest bishoprics in France, evangelized at the end of the 2nd century by Saints Ferréol and Ferjeux, and currently led by Mgr Jean-Luc Bouilleret, the 122nd Archbishop since November 2013. The diocese functions as the canonical Catholic pastoral authority in its territory, delivering sacramental services (baptism, confirmation, eucharist, marriage, anointing of the sick, funerals), faith formation, chaplaincy services (hospitals, prisons, military, schools, travelers), and charitable works through 67 parishes organized into 13 deaneries — a structure being consolidated into 13 larger new parishes by September 2026 as part of a "pastoral conversion" process following the 2017-2019 diocesan Synod.

The diocese operates 19 diocesan services organized into four poles (Annonce et vie chrétienne, Église en dialogue, Justice et charité, and transversal services), plus three diocesan welcome houses (Centre Diocésain Antoine-Pierre 1er de Grammont, Foyer Sainte-Anne at Montferrand-le-Château, and La Maîtrise/Escale Jeunes). Digital infrastructure is limited to standard administrative tooling: the diocese-besancon.fr website, the Annuaire Diocésain En Ligne (ADEL) directory, an online donation platform (jedonne.diocese-besancon.fr), the messes.info Mass schedule lookup, and a YouTube/social media presence alongside the diocesan review Église de Besançon and RCF Besançon radio appearances. Technology is explicitly not a competency — the input describes it as a religious organization using only standard diocesan administrative systems. The diocese coordinates with 12 other religious communities present in its territory and sits at the head of the Metropolitan Province of Besançon, which links six dioceses.

The revenue model is entirely donation-based, with no public subsidies. Streams include the Denier de l'Église (the principal ordinary resource funding priest salaries, seminarian formation, and lay staff), quête collections at Mass, mass offerings (€18 per intention), sacramental casuels (baptism €50-150, marriage €200-400, funeral €200-300), bequests and life insurance policies, and project-specific appeals such as the reconstruction of Saint-François-d'Assise church in Planoise. Pricing for sacramental offerings is set at the provincial level effective October 1, 2025. Annual revenue is not publicly disclosed. The customer base is the diffuse baptized Catholic population of the two departments, segmented into practicing faithful, families with children, young people, the sick and elderly, religious and consecrated persons, and ordained clergy.

Name

Diocèse de Besançon

Legal name

Diocèse de Besançon

Website

https://diocese-besancon.fr

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Diocese of Besançon is a Roman Catholic archdiocese in eastern France covering the Doubs and Haute-Saône departments, delivering sacramental, pastoral, and charitable services through 67 parishes and 19 diocesan services under Archbishop Mgr Jean-Luc Bouilleret, funded entirely by donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Religious Administration

NAICS

Religious Organizations (8131), Religious Organizations (81311)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Denominational & Ecclesiastical Governance Bodies (Dioceses, Synods, Conferences) (BPAGAJAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Faith-Based Education & Formation (Seminaries, Religious Schools, Catechesis) (BPAGAJAD), Places of Worship & Religious Facilities Operations (Cemeteries, Retreat Centers, Pilgrimage Sites) (BPAGAJAL)

Keywords

• Catholic diocese services
• Sacramental administration
• Pastoral care
• Faith formation
• Parish ministry

Headquarters

HQ city

Besançon

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Denier de l'Église (Church Dues): The main ordinary resource of the diocese. Annual collection from Catholics to fund priest salaries, retired priest support, seminarian formation, and lay staff compensation for diocesan or parish missions (solidarity services, health, pilgrimages, prisons, catechism, communication, etc.).
2. Quêtes (Collection baskets): Parish collections during Mass that cover material parish needs: electricity, heating, flowers, stationery, and parish services like catechesis and sick visits.
3. Offrandes de messe & casuels: Mass offerings for particular intentions, and casuals for sacraments (baptisms, marriages, funerals). These are donations to priests and the Church for specific celebrations.
4. Legs & donations: Bequests, donations, and life insurance policies that finance structural works, investments, and pastoral dynamism. Church receives no public subsidies.
5. Donations for specific projects: Project-specific donations, such as the reconstruction of Saint-François-d'Assise church in Planoise neighborhood, funded through public appeals.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Diocese of Besançon administers Catholic sacramental life (baptism, confirmation, eucharist, marriage, anointing of the sick, holy orders), faith formation (catechesis, retreats, spiritual direction), and pastoral care for the faithful across 67 parishes organized into 13 deaneries in the Doubs and Haute-Saône departments. The diocese operates 19 diocesan services covering catechesis, family ministry, youth and vocations, liturgy, interfaith dialogue, migration, health, pilgrimage, communication, and victim support, supported by an official website, an online directory (ADEL), an online donation platform for the Denier de l'Église, Mass schedule lookup, and diocesan media including the Église de Besançon review and RCF Besançon radio.

Product overview

Diocèse de Besançon operates primarily as a website platform offering digital services to Catholics in the Doubs and Haute-Saône departments. The core offering includes the main website (diocese-besancon.fr), an online diocesan directory (ADEL), an online donation platform (Denier), mass schedule lookup (Messes.info), diocesan media content (videos, podcasts, review magazine), and smartphone prayer applications. The diocese is undergoing pastoral conversion with plans to restructure from 13 deaneries (67 parishes) to 13 new parishes by 2026.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Annuaire Diocésain En Ligne (ADEL) Online diocesan directory updated in real time with contact information for all pastoral actors (priests, deacons, religious, lay staff, services) in the diocese, available alongside a printed annual paper directory.
• Plateforme de dons en ligne (Denier de l'Église) Online donation platform enabling the faithful to support the diocese via the Denier de l'Église (main ordinary resource funding priest salaries, retired priests, seminarian formation, and lay staff) and specific collections for missions, vocations, and charitable causes.
• Messes.info (Mass schedules) Online service that allows the faithful to find Mass times and locations throughout the diocese via an interactive map, integrated with the diocesan website.
• Site web diocésain (diocese-besancon.fr) Official website of the Diocese of Besançon providing information about the diocese, parishes, services, sacraments, news, pastoral conversion, donations, and administrative procedures for Catholics in the Doubs and Haute-Saône departments.
• Médias diocésains (Église de Besançon review, RCF Besançon radio, diocesan YouTube) Diocesan media offering including the Église de Besançon diocesan review (printed magazine), broadcasts on RCF Besançon Catholic radio (notably Mgr Bouilleret's twice-monthly 'Signe des temps'), and a diocesan YouTube channel with homilies, cathedral content, and event coverage.
• Recommended prayer smartphone applications Curated catalog of smartphone prayer applications (Prie en Chemin - Jesuit; Retraite dans la Ville; Lectio Divina resources; eucharistic adoration guides) recommended by the diocese to help the faithful pray.

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Procureur Général de Besançon (Public Prosecutor)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 July 2022Protocol signed between the public prosecutor and the dioceses of Franche-Comté (Besançon, Saint-Claude, Belfort-Montbéliard) for transmission of reports of sexual infractions to the courts. Formalizes joint work between the Church and justice system to combat sexual abuse in the Church, in line with CIASE recommendations.
• Diocèses of Belfort-Montbéliard, Nancy, Saint-Claude, Saint-Dié, VerduncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 October 2019These six dioceses form the Metropolitan Province of Besançon, under the presidency of Mgr Bouilleret as Archbishop Metropolitan. The province is a place of concertation between dioceses for joint pastoral initiatives. Additionally, Metz and Strasbourg work pastorally in connection with the province as concordatary dioceses directly subject to the Holy See.
• Religious Communities in the DiocesemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMultiple religious communities operating in the diocese: Franciscans (O.F.M), Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, Premonstratensians, Brothers of the Christian Schools, Clarisses, Sisters of Charity of Sainte Jeanne Antide Thouret, Sisters of the Alliance, Sisters of the Holy Family, Sisters of Jesus Serviteur, Congrégation des Amantes de la Croix de Vinh, Family of Sisters of the Annunciation of Bobo-Dioulasso, Missionary Workers of the Immaculate. These communities contribute to the pastoral mission through their apostolates.
• CCFD - Terre SolidaireminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCatholic Committee against Hunger and for Development. The diocese participates in the 5th Sunday of Lent collection for CCFD, which supports development projects worldwide. Collection proceeds go directly to CCFD.
• Aide aux Églises d'AfriqueminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociation supporting African Church pastoral projects under the responsibility of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in Rome. Diocese participates in the Epiphany Sunday collection.
• RCF BesançonminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCatholic radio station in Besançon. Mgr Bouilleret appears twice monthly on the show 'Signe des temps'. The diocese supports communication through RCF.
• Institut Catholique de ParisminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe diocese sends seminarians, lay people in ecclesiastical mission, and religious to ICP for formation. The 1st Sunday of March collection supports ICP. The diocese also benefits from a partnership between its ThéoFIL-ThéoFOR formation and ICP.
• Diocesan Movements and Associations of FaithfulmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNumerous movements including: Action Catholique, EDC (Entrepreneurs and Managers), CCFD-Terre Solidaire, Focolari, E&R (Entrepreneurship and Responsibility), MEJ (Mission de l'Enfance), MCRT (Christian Movement of Retired Persons), ACE (Enfant@Citoyen), CVX (Communauté de Vie Chrétienne). These movements have national structures recognized by the Bishops' Conference of France.
• Other Dioceses Undergoing Pastoral ConversionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe diocese has studied examples from other French dioceses that have already undertaken pastoral conversion: Bayeux-Lisieux (new parishes 2024), Reims (missionary spaces), Paris (Mission Paris), and Lyon (transformation pastorale). These provide models and inspiration, though results are context-dependent.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Archidiocèse de Paris: The Archdiocese of Paris is a metropolitan Catholic jurisdiction in France with a comparable canonical structure to Besançon (archbishop-led, multiple deaneries and parishes). It is directly comparable as a peer French Catholic diocese facing similar pastoral conversion and secularization dynamics, albeit at larger urban scale.
• Diocèse de Strasbourg: Diocese of Strasbourg is a concordatary French diocese that works pastorally linked to the Besançon province. It is a directly comparable peer operating the same Catholic diocesan model in eastern France, sharing concordatary governance characteristics.
• Archidiocèse de Lyon: The Archdiocese of Lyon is one of France's primatial sees and a metropolitan Catholic jurisdiction. It is directly comparable to Besançon as a peer archdiocese pursuing pastoral transformation, providing a closely analogous operating model.
• Diocèse de Nancy: Diocese of Nancy is a suffragan diocese within the Metropolitan Province of Besançon. It is a directly comparable peer diocese operating the same Catholic diocesan model in the Lorraine region with analogous parish and sacramental structures.
• Diocèse de Saint-Claude: Diocese of Saint-Claude is a member of the Besançon metropolitan province and co-signatory (2022) of the abuse-reporting protocol with the Procureur Général. It is a directly comparable peer diocese serving a comparable rural French population.
• Diocèse de Metz: Diocese of Metz is a concordatary French diocese linked to the Besançon ecclesiastical province. It is directly comparable as a peer diocese in eastern France with analogous structure, Catholic population dynamics, and pastoral conversion challenges.
• Diocèse de Verdun: Diocese of Verdun is a suffragan within the Besançon metropolitan province. It is a directly comparable peer French Catholic diocese operating the same canonical structure, sacramental services, and donation-based funding model.
• Diocèse de Belfort-Montbéliard: The Diocese of Belfort-Montbéliard was created in 1979 from territory previously belonging to Besançon and remains part of the Besançon metropolitan province. It is a directly comparable peer with the same governance and operating model in adjacent geography.
• Diocèse de Saint-Dié: Diocese of Saint-Dié is the final member of the Besançon metropolitan province. It is directly comparable to Besançon as a peer French diocese sharing the same operating model, governance conventions, and participation in provincial coordination.

Broad incumbents

• Conférence des Évêques de France: The Conference of Bishops of France is the national body under which Besançon operates and which the Archbishop sits on through its commissions. It is a broader incumbent peer providing national coordination, standards, and resources that all member dioceses — including Besançon — rely on.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/diocesebesancon
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCFuebrEzkAtQz_Gi9A4FoAQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• Instagraminstagram.com/jeunes.diocese.besancon
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/diocese-de-besancon

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Diocèse de Besançon