Vatican City, Apr 26, 2022 / 04:03 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Tuesday named Archbishop Laurent Ulrich as the new Catholic archbishop of Paris.
Ulrich, the archbishop of Lille, northern France, succeeds Archbishop Michel Aupetit, who resigned in December.
The new Paris archbishop was born in 1951 and ordained a priest of the diocese of Dijon, eastern France, in 1979.
He was appointed archbishop of Chambéry, southeastern France, by Pope John Paul II in the year 2000. He was transferred to Lille in 2008 by Benedict XVI.
Among the challenges facing the 70-year-old archbishop will be to heal the divisions exposed in the Paris archdiocese during Aupetit’s tenure from 2017 to 2021.
He will also oversee the restoration of the interior of Notre-Dame Cathedral following a devastating fire in 2019. The cathedral is expected to reopen for worship on April 16, 2024, five years after the blaze.
In his first message to his new flock, dated April 25, Ulrich said: “It is a joy for us to wait for the day of its reopening so that we can still proclaim the living Christ there, while obviously not neglecting the many reasons that attract people to it.”
“I am aware of the complexity of the challenges that will be presented to us in the years to come, and this should not worry us, but it requires our cooperation: a profoundly synodal attitude, ‘it is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium,’ according to Pope Francis.”
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Aupetit submitted his resignation to Pope Francis in November 2021 after the magazine Le Point published a report portraying the archbishop as a divisive and authoritarian figure.
The report also raised concerns about Aupetit’s contacts with a woman dating back to 2012, when he was vicar general of the archdiocese. The archbishop said he was not in a relationship with the woman.
Pope Francis accepted Aupetit’s resignation on Dec. 2, 2021, but later expressed doubt about the validity of the criticisms of the archbishop.
During an in-flight press conference a few days later, the pope told journalists that he had accepted Aupetit’s resignation “on the altar of hypocrisy” because the archbishop had “lost his reputation so publicly.”
Aupetit announced in February that he would continue to serve as a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, after receiving encouragement from Pope Francis.
The Paris archdiocese, which dates back to the 3rd century, serves an estimated 1.3 million Catholics out of a total population of around 2.2 million people.
The archdiocese said on April 26 that Ulrich will be installed as the 142nd archbishop of Paris at 6:30 p.m. local time on May 23 at the Church of Saint-Sulpice.
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Archbishop Aupetit was effectively removed by His Holiness on the pontiff’s alleged “Altar Of Hypocrisy” following submission of resignation [recall the difference with Cardinal Reinhard Marx who was instead retained on similar grounds]. “The problem with the altar of hypocrisy is that the weight of public opinion becomes unbearable. And this also influences the criteria for the selection of new bishops, because their positions must be those that public opinion can understand so that the Church is not under attack. It is an original sin that has been with us since the election of Pope Francis” (Andrea Gagliarducci MondayVatican 4.25.22).
Gagliarducci waxing objectively perceives Francis’ Altar of Hypocrisy rationale for dismissing/accepting removal as a seeming benevolent bow to public opinion, although he does name it a sin. Or is it more pretext to reconstitute [Archbishop Aupetit practiced medicine from 1979 to 1990 and taught bioethics until 2006. His book, L’Embryon, Quells Enjeux? The Embryo: What Are the Stakes? Paris: Éditions Salvator, 2008 is a vigorous defense of the unborn child in NCReg]. Perhaps too rigorous a defender of the unborn to meet Dicastery science?
“Pope Francis, over the years, has become the protagonist of what has been defined by many as “a pastoral turning point.” The profile of some new bishops immediately made cardinals testifies to this: in the United States, Blase Cupich, transferred to Chicago; Wilton Gregory, moved to Washington; and Joseph Tobin, transferred to Newark. In Latin America, the creation of the archbishop of Huancayo Pedro Carlo Barreto as cardinal” (Ibid).
Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, Aupetit’s replacement, reveals little of the moral character and expertise of the latter. Despite allegation that Aupetit had an unacceptable shoulder rubbing relationship with his secretary warranting Aztec sacrifice on the Altar of Hypocrisy when His Holiness upgrades those who are far more engaged.
But wait, Fr. Morello, we find biblical reference to the likes of the rainbow-bannered Marx, Bats-sing and Hollerich who, now with complicit media accompaniment (!), would hijack the synodal process to sabotage inborn human morality and settled Catholic teaching on faith and morals…
BIBLICAL! Without commenting on either Archbishop Ulrich or the former Archbishop Apetit, we find the relevant scriptural passage right here in the Liturgy of the Hours for today (the second Tuesday after Easter):
“…I know you cannot tolerate wicked men; you have tested those self-styled apostles [!] who are nothing of the sort, and discovered that they are imposters [!]” (Rev 2:2). Sinodize that!
Pope Francis who, in 2017, appointed Bishop Aupetit as Archbishop to Paris, accepted the latter’s resignation because there was much media backlash.
However, a few months later the Archbishop said: “He also wanted to show his confidence by asking me to remain in the Roman Congregation for Bishops.” This is the “department of the Roman Curia responsible for identifying and selecting candidates for bishop, before presenting them to the pope for a final decision.”
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/02/05/archbishop-aupetit-pope-francis-asked-me-to-stay-in-congregation-of-bishops-after-paris-resignation/