Dissident French Bishop rehabilitated by Pope Francis dies

Bishop Gaillot, a dissident bishop who defended the cause of divorced people, homosexuals and immigrants within the Church, died on Wednesday 12 April 2023 at the age of 87.

Jacques Gaillot died in Paris on Wednesday afternoon after a debilitating illness, a source close to the bishop told AFP. "He died calmly, serenely, surrounded by his loved ones," the same source added. The diocese of Evreux had recently indicated that Bishop Gaillot was suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Unorthodox positions within the Church

Bishop of Evreux for 13 years (1982-1995), the Vatican withdrew him from office in January 1995 because of his unorthodox positions within the Church. A media personality, he was a nuisance in high places, until the Vatican, "disoriented", asked the bishops of France to clean up their act.

After his eviction from the Diocese of Évreux, he was appointed honorary bishop "in partibus" of Partenia, a diocese in Mauritania that disappeared in the 5th century. Bishop Gaillot then made this "virtual" diocese an instrument for defending the excluded (undocumented migrants and homeless, etc.).

In September 2015, he was received by Pope Francis for nearly an hour, before whom he defended the cause of divorced people, homosexuals and immigrants. "Beyond certain positions that may have divided people, we remember that he was especially concerned about the poorest and the peripheries," the CEF told AFP on Wednesday evening.

Defender of the homeless

Bishop Gaillot was born on 11 September 1935 in Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne), the son of wine merchants. He had a degree in theology and graduated from the Institute of Liturgy, and was ordained a priest in March 1961, after having been mobilised for 28 months in Algeria.

"Until recently, he continued to visit prisoners in prison and was still honorary president of Droits Devant! an association for the defence of the excluded and the homeless, which he had created with Jacques Higelin and Professor Schwartzenberg," a person close to the bishop told AFP.

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