Built in 1910 in the working-class city of Génibois in Jœuf, in Meurthe-et-Moselle, on the initiative of the Wendel family, masters of forges, the Notre-Dame de Franchepré church occupies an important place in local history. Michel Platini, a native of Jœuf and French football star, notably served as a choir child. She also welcomed her father’s funeral, Aldo Platini, one of the last religious services celebrated in these places.
The church is the property of the diocese of Nancy, which bought it in 1975 for a symbolic franc and desecrated it on June 7, 2024 for its sale. But to date, the diocese has still not found any buyer. The municipality, for its part, is actively struggling to maintain this heritage, refusing that the church will be ceded to a private owner.
The municipality, which had already invested 500,000 euros in public funds and 80,000 euros in private donations for the renovation of the church twenty years ago, proposed in March 2025 to buy the building for 100,000 euros supported by the Wendel Foundation, in order to create a museum of workers’ football and immigrant in France. However, the diocese rejected this offer, fixing the sale price at 500,000 euros. According to the vicar general, “Under the law of the Church, the diocese could not alienate the church at a price lower than that of the estimate, whatever its original funding or its restructuring”.
André Corzani, the mayor of Jœuf, expressed his anger to the local press: “Where is the moral dimension in these words?” This church is part of the heritage of the town. It will not guarantee the sustainability of the building ”. For his part, the historian Roger Martinois, president of the circle for the promotion of the history of Jœuf, underlined: “We cannot imagine that the church disappears one day from the landscape. Even if it is no longer a place of culture, it must remain in the center of the city. Many premises have been baptized and married there ”.
The diocese has committed to find a buyer “Respectful” of the place and continues its negotiations with the city. Among the potential buyers, a Luxembourg proposes to transform the church into an art gallery.
However, the information concerning the future of the liturgical furniture of the church – organ, chair, way of the cross in enamels, stained glass, statues – remain vague, even though it is a major issue for the inhabitants.
