FRANCE
La Croix
Céline Hoyeau and Nicolas Senèze
This is a bold move by Pope Francis. While the French bishops themselves were still pondering this thorny dossier, on Thursday the pope accepted the resignation of Bishop Hervé Gaschignard of Aire and Dax in France’s southern Landes region.
“The French bishops welcome this decision in faith and confidence in the successor of Peter and are conscious of its gravity,” French Bishops Conference president, Archbishop Georges Pontier said in a statement.
“For several weeks, there have been persistent rumors in the Diocese of Dax concerning inappropriate pastoral attitudes by the bishop.”
A report to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the FaithAccording to information received by La Croix, a family in Landes made a report to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in the Vatican.
The CDF, which deals with offenses against the faith as well as “delicta graviora” or “very grave offenses”, particularly sexual abuse, asked the nuncio in France to investigate the issue.
The task of gathering the testimony from the family involved on January 14, 2017, fell to Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, metropolitan archbishop of Bordeaux, who is also a member of the CDF.
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