The practices of Mgr Luc Ravel will be audited. A canonical procedure whose outcome no one can predict.
If there is a discreet place in the Church, it is the apostolic nunciatures. These embassies of the Holy See never communicate publicly. A custom that the nunciature of France broke on Thursday.
Read alsoBishop Matthieu Rougé: “Church, the joy of the priesthood”
SEE ALSO – Paris: the challenges of the new archbishop
We thus learned that the pope had “ordered” an apostolic visit to the Archdiocese of Strasbourg. The press release does not designate the holder of this diocese, Mr.gr Luc Ravel, 65, appointed to Alsace in February 2017. The nunciature explains that the reason for this general audit of the diocese – a common practice in the Church and provided for in canon law – is linked to ” information reaching the Holy See and relating to the pastoral government of the Archdiocese of Strasbourg”.
This measure echoes that which concerned the bishopric of Toulon. But it is of another nature. In Toulon, the visit, led by the Metropolitan Archbishop of Marseille, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, had not been publicized. She was type “fraternal”, namely an internal approach to seek solutions to very pastoral questions, affecting the “reception policy” of priests.
Read alsoThe appalling decision of the Vatican towards the diocese of Toulon
In Strasbourg, it is a higher level, more administrative, questioning the general and usual management of the bishop, including his relationship with the priests and the faithful. Nothing to do either with an ideological question that would worry Pope Francis: Mgr Ravel, rather classic, was the only French bishop to publicly call for the vote of Emmanuel Macron, much appreciated by François. Luc Ravel is also close to the thought and spirituality of the Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. There is nothing “traditional” about it.
Finally, this canonical visit was entrusted to a bishop from outside the Grand Est region and very experienced: Mg Stanislas Lalanne. This accomplished German speaker is the current Bishop of Pontoise. He will be assisted by Mr.gr Joël Mercier, secretary emeritus of the dicastery for the clergy, therefore Roman by experience, which also bodes well for the great seriousness of the audit to come, the conclusions of which are not foreseeable for the time being.
“away from people”
What do we blame M.gr Ravel? A recent affair in which he unceremoniously dismissed his bursar, Jacques Bourrier, a former officer in the national navy, led to denunciations in the DNA “Bishop’s Banana Republic Practices”. Many priests – they are 511 – and lay people also say ” suffer “ of his style “far from people and not very available, sometimes authoritarian”.
The priests were shocked, during Holy Week 2022, to see their bishop absent for the Chrism Mass – only in the year when the bishop celebrates with all his priests – because he had chosen to honor the candidate with his presence. Macron in the Alsatian capital. It is true that the diocese is under a concordat regime. Several regional sources testified on Thursday to the ” relief “ provoked by this decision of the pope. As for M.gr Ravel, not reachable, he let it be known by press release that he was welcoming him“in faith and trust”.
SEE ALSO – “I apologize”: Pope Francis explains the postponement of his trip to Africa
The diocese of Strasbourg subject to a general inspection ordered by the pope