Archbishop of Strasbourg on manoevres

Just before the Chrism Mass, a Mass of communion and diocesan unity, about fifteen demonstrators, both lay people and priests, demonstrated in front of Strasbourg cathedral on Tuesday evening to demand the resignation of Archbishop Luc Ravel.

The demonstration was organised by members of the Jonas movement, a modernist movement with a feminist twist. Rue89 was there. According to the same newspaper, for nearly a year, the fate of Archbishop Ravel as head of the Archdiocese of Strasbourg has been in limbo. Since the apostolic enquiry in June 2022, the conclusions of which have not been made public, he has been absent from public events. This silence is becoming burdensome and it seems that the archbishop is using the specificity of the diocese, still under the Concordat, to delay his resignation.

The Archbishop of Strasbourg, Monsignor Luc Ravel, was the target of an Apostolic Visit by the Holy See in the summer of 2022. Everything happened very quickly with three investigators appointed by Rome, who interviewed clerics and lay people of the diocese, anonymously. The focus was on his way of being, his exercise of episcopal authority and his management of the diocese. The report of the Apostolic Visitors was given to the Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. Its conclusions were apparently damning. The dossier then reached the desk of Pope Francis. The verdict was not long in coming. Archbishop Ravel was summoned to Rome at the end of 2022. The Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops informed him of the pope's decision to terminate his functions. As the concordat of 1801 is still in force in Strasbourg, it would have been simplest if Bishop Ravel had accepted to resign. Monsignor Ravel chose to resist and to make things last. He studied the possibility of various appeals, from the point of view of Church law, as well as from the point of view of French law and the local regime of religious worshipping communities. Monsignor Ravel provoked the anger of the Pope when he tried to play the card of President Macron against Pope Francis, using Parisian relations that date back to his time in the Diocese of the Armies. In response, Rome gave Archbishop Ravel an ultimatum to submit a signed letter of resignation by the end of February 2023. Archbishop Ravel waited until the last day to submit this letter. However, Rome found that this letter was written in an extraordinarily ambiguous manner, making it unusable. Rome was therefore stuck, given the cumbersome procedures for appointing and resigning the Bishops of Strasbourg and Metz, in a context of delicate relations with the Presidency of the French Republic... After investigation, Rome's new strategy was as follows: Archbishop Ravel would remain Archbishop on paper, all his missions and prerogatives would be withdrawn, and an Apostolic Administrator would be appointed until the situation with Archbishop Ravel evolved. Who was approached? Quite simply the older of the two auxiliary bishops, Bishop Kratz. Bishop Kratz then received a letter, slipped under his door, informing him that all his delegations had been withdrawn by Bishop Ravel.

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