Pope Francis has accepted the resignation handed to him at the end of April by the Archbishop of Strasbourg, Mgr Luc Ravel, much criticized for his governance, the Conference of Bishops of France announced on Saturday. “The Holy Father and the President of the Republic (Emmanuel Macron) jointly accept the resignation of the pastoral charge of Monsignor Luc Ravel”, indicates the Conference in a press release.
In Alsace-Moselle, the 1801 concordat is indeed still in force and the Archbishop of Strasbourg is both appointed by the Vatican and by a decree signed by the Presidency of the Republic, then published in the Official Journal. “The Holy Father has appointed Apostolic Administrator of Strasbourg Monsignor Philippe Ballot, Archbishop-Bishop of Metz,” the statement continued. This specifies that “the episcopal seat is therefore vacant, awaiting the appointment of the next archbishop” of Strasbourg, whose diocese represents approximately 1.3 million Catholics.
“Resignation to the Holy Father”
In a press release sent to AFP on April 20, Bishop Ravel, who was the target of an inspection ordered by the Vatican after criticism of his governance, which was considered solitary and authoritarian by certain faithful, priests and collaborators, announced that he had submitted his “resignation to the Holy Father”, without detailing the reasons. On the other hand, he defended his years spent in the diocese of Strasbourg, where he arrived in 2017, in particular his management of files related to sexual violence in the Church.
In an interview given earlier this week to the Christian weekly The lifeBishop Ravel, who had not spoken publicly for many months, broke his silence, once again defending his action on sexual violence, while conceding that he had “been overwhelmed by all these cases” which “took him an infinite amount of time”.
“I was scoured by pain and the mystery of evil. I confess that I should have had more personal support, including on a psychological level”, indicated Bishop Ravel to The life.