Pope Francis thanked Cardinal Barbarin this Friday during a speech in Assisi (central Italy), believing that the latter had lived “with dignity the experience of abandonment”.
“I would like to thank Cardinal Barbarin for his presence.
He is among the poor.
He too lived with dignity the experience of poverty, abandonment, mistrust.
And he defended himself with silence and prayer ”, declared the Pope in the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels, during a trip on the occasion of the World Day of the Poor.
Became chaplain in Brittany
"Thank you, Cardinal Barbarin, for your testimony which is building the church," added the Pope, addressing the French prelate, present alongside some 500 people in precarious situations from various European countries, including around 200 French. .
Questioned by journalists at the end of the ceremony, Bishop Barbarin did not wish to react to this intervention.
The pope had accepted in March 2020 the resignation of the former Primate of Gaul, who was finally released on appeal after a conviction in 2019 during a resounding trial for his silences on the sexual assaults on minors of a former priest of his diocese, Bernard Preynat.
The former archbishop of Lyon, now 71 years old, then became chaplain in Brittany.
This position of the pope comes as the Church of France is facing an unprecedented crisis since the publication in early October of a damning report by the independent commission on sexual abuse in the church (Ciase).