“The Holy Father accepted the resignation (..) presented by Bishop Michel Aupetit and at the same time appointed Bishop Georges Pontier apostolic administrator” of the Archdiocese of Paris, the Vatican said.
At the end of November, Bishop Aupetit handed in his resignation to the Pope after being accused in the press of having had an intimate relationship with a woman, which he categorically denied.
In a separate press release Thursday, the Conference of Bishops of France confirmed the pope’s decision, communicated according to it by the apostolic nunciature (Vatican embassy in France), as well as the appointment of Georges Pontier, archbishop emeritus of Marseille, to the post of apostolic administrator of Paris.
Appointed in 2017, Bishop Aupetit, 70, had in 2012 “ambiguous behavior with a person very present towards him,” the diocese had admitted. It was not “a love affair” or a “sexual relationship,” the diocese told AFP, adding that the archbishop had “opened up to his hierarchy at the time.” .
Michel Aupetit was promoted auxiliary bishop in 2013. Only one year later, he inherited a diocese in full, that of Nanterre. Three and a half years later, in 2017, the one who dreamed of being a “country priest” was made the head of the most urban of the dioceses.
The archbishop, who had to deal with the fire of Notre-Dame de Paris in 2019, is known for his strict positions on the family and bioethics – he notably regularly supported the “marches for life” hostile to the Abortion.
He also had a problem with homosexuals in 2012 during the debates on “marriage for all”.