At the same time, the core of the elite liberal constituency--academics, high-tech businesspeople and media figures--has been growing steadily in wealth and influence.
Their faith provides them with a means of judging reality that is independent of the largely post-religious intellectual commissariat that runs the media and the cultural elite in the Western world.
The urban elite voted en masse for Mr Schwarzenberg - who was supported by many in the media and had a strong Facebook following, says our correspondent.
Richard Descoings was known for carrying out a programme of far-reaching reform at Sciences Po, which educates much of the French political, media and administrative elite.