The Vatican had given itself time “just after Easter” to find the right profile.
It is therefore Laurent Ulrich who will take over from the disputed Bishop Michel Aupetit, implicated by a rumor of a supposed female affair, and who had submitted his decision to the Pope on December 2.
"I come to you with the
joy of believing,
which has been my motto for a long time," he said, according to the Conference of Bishops of France.
Laurent Ulrich, currently in Lille, takes the head of the most powerful diocese of France, which, since the departure of Aupetit, was administered by Mgr Georges Pontier, former archbishop of Marseilles.
Its installation will take place on Monday, May 23, at 6:30 p.m., in the Saint-Sulpice church in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, indicates a press release from the Conference of Bishops of France.
Read alsoThe new life of Mgr Aupetit, the fallen archbishop: “Now I am really serene”
“A progressive personality”
Several names of possible successors have been circulating in recent weeks to take the reins of the diocese of Paris.
In addition to that of Laurent Ulrich, there was also that of Mgr Jean-Marc Aveline, 63, stationed in Marseille, but also Mgr François Bustillo, 53, who officiates in Corsica, or François Boëdec, 62, the Provincial of the Jesuits French-speaking Europeans.
If the Archbishop of Lille was particularly approached, it is also because of his personality.
The 70-year-old prelate is reputed to be sensitive to the cause of migrants and also very concerned about the victims of pedocrime in the Church.
"He is a progressive personality very close to associations and with social fiber, which corresponds well to the personality of the pope", underlined last week in our columns, Christine Pedotti, editorial director of the newspaper
"
Christian testimony". .
His experience was also an asset: "He was vice-president of the conference of bishops of France and therefore knows perfectly the central functioning of the Church", she underlined.
Finally the fact of not being "from the capital" could be an advantage: "He has neither friend nor enemy displayed in the diocese of Paris", still deciphered Christine Pedotti.