Archbishop in a state of Holy Siege

Neither God nor mitre

In Strasbourg, Archbishop Luc Ravel in a state of Holy Siege (a play on Sainte Siege- or Holy See)

The Archbishop was Bishop of the Armed Forces 

Questioned by a growing number of Alsatian Catholics for his authoritarian management, Luc Ravel has also ignored, according to the community, a direct call from the Vatican to resign.

Tuesday 4 April, 6.15pm. An unusual activity reigns on the square of the cathedral of Strasbourg. Dozens of faithful are getting ready to attend the Chrism Mass, a moment to celebrate the supposed unity of the diocese around its bishop. But there is discord among the Catholics of Alsace. About fifteen believers demonstrated. Most of them are members of the Jonas movement, a progressive current of Catholicism and they demand the resignation of Archbishop Luc Ravel. In silence, they hold their placards in their hands: "No to a bishop who guns for people", "It's night in the Diocese of Strasbourg".

The affair began in June 2022 with the announcement of an Apostolic Visit to the Diocese of Strasbourg. This internal investigation, ordered by the Vatican, would focus on the management methods of Archbishop Luc Ravel. But nine months later, there has been no official announcement of the Papal representation. However, many Alsatian believers are convinced, as was the case of former parish priest,Vincent Steyert: "The Archbishop has been asked by Rome to resign. Everyone says this from a reliable source, a highly placed acquaintance, a well-informed Twitter feed or the Catholic Reinformation website...

While the crisis in the Diocese of Strasbourg is getting bogged down, the faithful are speaking out. On Sunday 9 April, a petition was published on the site change.org in the name of "many suffering Christians", asking Luc Ravel to resign. By Sunday, it had reached more than 800 signatures. Here again, the Vatican's decision is taken for granted: "Pope Francis has asked you to submit your resignation. You have decided to disobey the Pope. [...] In our eyes, you are still a senior official [because of a particularity of the Alsace-Moselle Concordat, editor's note], but we no longer recognise you as a pastor in charge of the unity of the Diocesan community."

"We don't count for him"

The comments left under the petition show the diversity of the Alsatian Catholic community's reproaches towards their Archbishop. The former military chaplain is criticised for his authoritarianism: "This is the church... not the army", says one signatory. In June 2022, Luc Ravel dismissed his diocesan bursar six weeks before the end of his mandate. The person concerned wants to challenge this decision in court, denouncing to the Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace (DNA) a "heavy disciplinary sanction without any motivation".

We felt that there was very little interest in Alsace, the Alsatians and the priests," said Etienne Uberall, the former parish priest of Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux church, who served there from 2010 to 2022. Bishop Ravel is intellectually very brilliant, but the fraternal and human relationship is reduced to the bare minimum. I remember a young priest saying to me, 'I don't think we count for him'."

As the person "responsible for dialogue with Muslims", Etienne Uberall also regrets "never having had a personal meeting to discuss this issue, despite my request". On his arrival at the head of the Archdiocese of Strasbourg, Ravel had supported the idea of the "great replacement" by evoking the fecundity of "Muslim believers" and by castigating abortion. He then set up the Congregation of Divine Mercy in Alsace, one of whose aims is the conversion of Muslims. The only recent demonstration in support of Ravel was organised by the royalist group, Action française. It was attended by seven people.

The ousting of auxiliary bishop, Christian Kratz from the Episcopal Council also broke the camel's back. Revealed on 4 April by the DNA, this dismissal was initially shocking because of the method used: a letter slipped under the door of the bishop's home at 6am. By attacking a figure appreciated by many Alsatians, Ravel has provoked an even wider rebellion while dividing the Catholic community a little more.

The Archbishop based his decision on a case of child pornography files held by a chaplain of the Saint-Etienne episcopal college in Strasbourg. Later accused of rape by a former student of the same school, this ex-priest committed suicide with his mother on 1 January 2023. Luc Ravel thus denounced the passivity of Christian Kratz at the time of the events. The dismissed bishop says he is "the victim of an arbitrary decision and a settling of scores": "The Archbishop reproaches me for having hidden things from him, but he was not there at the time and I was not the Archbishop.

"Failing ecclesiology"

Ravel has even more difficulty convincing people of the sincerity of his approach because he himself covered up for a priest who committed sexual assaults on minors between 1987 and 1992 and was convicted in 1996. For twenty years, Luc Ravel, then Bishop of the Armed Forces, welcomed this man, Abbé Griffond, exfiltrated from the Bishopric of Nancy. In an internal memo of November 2016, revealed by L'Obs, Ravel even recommended him for an administrative post at the head of the Catholic chaplaincy of the French Air Force.

The parishioners don't understand," says a priest in Mulhouse, "They are shocked by this attitude of the archbishop. They have the impression that he is playing the vigilante, whereas it seems to me that he is seeking above all to keep his job. He analyses the current crisis in the bishopric: "The Catholic Church is still the last monarchy of divine right in Europe. The Bishop is all-powerful. There is no  counterweight. Bishop Ravel's current drift is made possible by a faulty ecclesiology, which places power in a Diocese solely in the person of the bishop."

Emeritus Professor of Ethics and Moral Theology at the University of Strasbourg, Marie-Jo Thiel deplores a "tragic situation" and calls to mind the example of Bishop Michel Santier. In October 2021, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sanctioned the bishop for "spiritual abuse for sexual purposes". The disciplinary decision was never communicated by the French Bishops' Conference. The Catholic community thus discovered the affair in the press, following the opening of a judicial enquiry in November 2022.

Marie-Jo Thiel, addressed national leaders, "the Nuncio Celestino Migliore and to the President of the Bishops' Conference, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort", asking "that the judgement which was issued in Rome following the apostolic visit be published, so that we do not end up with a new Santier affair".

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See also Archbishop on manoeuvres