Pope Francis receives Bishop Gaillot, who was banished 20 years ago
On September 1, 2015, the controversial French Bishop Jacques Gaillot was received by Pope Francis in a 45-minute private audience that was conducted in French. “We are brothers,” the Supreme Pontiff remarked to the bishop who had been relieved of his duties in 1995 and was being accompanied by Fr. Daniel Duigou, pastor of the Church of Saint-Merry in Paris.
“I am still under the charm of that meeting. He spoke to us familiarly. He listened. This is a man who does not judge, who does not try to fit things into preconceived categories [recadrer],” Bp. Gaillot also reported to Le Monde on September 2. The French prelate told the Pope that he was “a gift from God to the world”. According to the French daily newspaper, “there was a lot of discussion about the upcoming synod” on the family.
According to the September 1 issue of Le Point, the former Bishop of Evreux, today eighty years old, related his own pastoral experiences in dealing with divorced-and-remarried persons or homosexual couples, whom he happens to bless from time to time. “I added: Priests bless lots of houses, and therefore they can bless persons. This remark made the Pope smile. He agreed with me completely and said: ‘God’s blessing is for everyone.’” The question of migrants was also addressed. “The Pope told us: migrants are the flesh of the Church,” Father Daniel Duigou reported to Le Monde. “He said: ‘Christ is knocking at the door of the Church, not because he would like to come back in, but in order to go out toward the world.’ We must not shut in the one who set us free,” Bp. Gaillot explained.
Relieved of his duties as Bishop of Evreux in 1995, particularly because of his political involvement and his positions in favor of the ordination of married men, recognizing “homosexual rights” and “the right to blaspheme”, Bp. Gaillot had been named at that time Bishop in partibus of Partenia, in present-day Algeria, without territory or faithful.
(Sources : apic/lemonde/lepoint – DICI no. 320 dated September 11, 2015)
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