France: card. Barbarin says goodbye to the diocese of Lyons. He will be moving to Rennes, “I will find the essence of my priesthood again”

Once and for all, card. Philippe Barbarin said goodbye to the diocese of Lyons, after 17 years at its helm, with a last Mass of thanksgiving celebrated in the Cathedral on Sunday 28th June, before the leaders of the other churches. The cardinal will be moving to the diocese of Rennes, he will be chaplain at the general house of the Little Sisters of the Poor, in the Breton countryside; he will help the local bishop. “I will find the essence of my priesthood again”, he stated in a recent interview for the French Catholic radio, where he said he is happy he will be disappearing for a while: “When there is calm after the storm and a tsunami, one can be quite happy”. The cardinal had handed in his resignation from the diocese of Lyons to the Pope in late January, just after the final acquittal of four years’ trials in connection with a case of paedophilia involving a sentenced priest, Bernard Preynat. The Pope had accepted the cardinal’s resignation on 6th March. Louis Barbarin spent these last few months in the Benedictine monastery of Abu Gosh, in Israel. “I thank the Lord for all that I have lived here in Lyons and I entrust my future to Him to keep doing all that He will ask me to”, he said in the Cathedral as he said goodbye to the congregation and to the bishop, Michel Dubost, who, despite being an emeritus bishop, has accepted to run the diocese in this last year. Now, someone else is expected to be appointed to lead the diocese of Lyons.

Valentina Bombelli