The ordination of priests, which had exceptionally been suspended by the Vatican in the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon for a year and a half, will resume, announced Sunday the new bishop appointed to help his colleague in office.
Monsignor François Touvet, coadjutor bishop, announced this decision taken by Rome, namely “that the decree of April 28, 2022 postponing ordinations is now revoked”. “A first celebration of ordinations will take place on Sunday January 21,” specifies the diocese in a press release. “This is good news, not only for the seminarians and their formators, but also for the entire Church of Fréjus-Toulon,” continues the press release, thus marking the end of a period of deep crisis within this diocese. from the south-east of France.
An ultraconservative bishop
Monseigneur Touvet, until now bishop of Châlons, participated on Sunday in his welcome mass in the Var where he was appointed to be a sort of deputy to Bishop Dominique Rey, criticized for his methods and his management. Monsignor Rey, 71, considered one of the most conservative bishops in France, was at the heart of a crisis such that the Pope had ordered an audit before ruling on his future. This promoter of a re-muscled Catholicism was criticized within the Church for his style which may have been inspired by American evangelical pastors.
Its policy of welcoming new communities was also debated, targeting traditionalists and followers of the Latin mass for example, and other charismatics, particularly from Latin America. And, extremely rare, the ordination of priests had been suspended in a context of vocations crisis in the Church of France.