In the adopted countries of European migrants, on the whole different religious communities coexisted peacefully alongside indigenous religious groups.
One consequence of mass migration was the growth of different religious communities, especially Jews and Roman Catholics. An indigenous Jewish population (the Touensa) had lived in Tunisia since pre-Christian times. In the 17th century there had been a migration of Jews from Livorno (the Grana). A new wave of European Jews migrated to Tunisia in the 19th century. Unlike Tunisian Jews, the newcomers shared the legal status of the Europeans.
The presence of a small group of Christian residents in Tunisia predated mass migration. The tolerant attitude of the local ruler (the Bey) to Christianity is epitomised by the presence, in the Bey’s Bardo complex, of a chapel for the few Catholics working in his service. Under the French protectorate especially, the number of Catholics and Catholic churches multiplied, and Catholic religious orders opened schools in different towns. The Greek Orthodox Christian community also grew.