Well, she was Catholic at first. That is probably why she never heard of that stuff.
The French, by and large, abandoned Catholicism by World War I.
Popery-bashing aside, I honestly believe that that is Benedict XVI's greatest problem: None of his flock [or ex-flock] has a clue what it is that they're supposed to be believing [or were supposed to be believing, prior to leaving the church].
Apparently the phenomenon extends even to South America, where [as I understand it] protestantism is expanding exponentially.