Jacques Gaillot
Encyclopedia
The Most Reverend Dr. Jacques Jean Edmond Georges Monseigneur Gaillot (born 11 September 1935; ; generally known in French as Monseigneur
Gaillot), Titular Bishop
of Partenia
, is a French
Catholic clergyman and social activist. He was from 1982 to 1995 Bishop of Évreux in France
. In 1995, he was demoted to being Titular Bishop
of Partenia
, an extinct diocese
, for having expressed too loudly, liberal positions on political and social matters; and heterodox opinions on religious matters.
It is these viewpoints and unorthodox stances that have earned Gaillot the nickname of The Red Cleric.
, Haute-Marne
. As a teenager, he already desired to become a priest. After his secondary studies, he entered the seminary in Langres
.
From 1957 to 1959, he carried out his compulsory military service in Algeria
during the war of independence
.
From 1960 to 1962 he was sent to Rome
to complete his studies in theology
and get his bachelor's degree. He was ordained
a priest in 1961.
From 1962 to 1964, he was sent to the Higher Institute for Liturgy in Paris
, while teaching at the major seminary in Châlons-en-Champagne
.
From 1965, he was a Professor at the regional seminary of Reims
. He chaired many sessions to implement the orientations of the Second Vatican Council
.
In 1973, he was appointed to the parish of St Dizier, his hometown, while becoming co-manager of the institute for the training of the educators of the clergy (IFEC) in Paris.
In 1977, he was appointed vicar general of the diocese of Langres. In 1981, he was elected vicar capitular. In May 1982, he was appointed bishop of Évreux, being consecrated into the position on 20 June.
In 1983, he supported a conscientious objector
before the court in Évreux. During the yearly assembly of the episcopate, he was one of the two bishops (of a total of 110) voting against the episcopate's text on nuclear deterrence, which supported having nuclear arms as a legitimate deterrent.
In 1984 he angered numerous Catholic authorities by refusing to support the movement in defence of French parochial schools.
In 1985, he supported the First Intifada
in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip
and met Yasser Arafat
in Tunis
, being embraced by the future Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in a private audience. Perhaps the most notable event he performed in 1987 was attending, by invitation, a special session of the United Nations
in New York
to speak out for disarmament
. The first amount of considerable media attention paid to Gaillot came in January 1985 when he signed an appeal on behalf of underpaid Catholic school teachers; also signing the appeal was Georges Marchais
, the head of the French Communist Party
. This proved to be highly controversial, bringing about the start of a right-wing campaign against Bishop Gaillot. Within his own diocese, Le Figaro
spear-headed the campaign. At this point Bishop Gaillot was described as being "a tool of the church's worst enemies"
In 1987, he went to South Africa
to meet a young anti-apartheid militant from Évreux sentenced to 4 years in prison by the South African régime. There he also appeared at a demonstration where some Communist militants were also demonstrating. In order to accomplish this trip, he had to renounce going with the diocesan pilgrimage
to Lourdes
, a move that attracted criticism. Further, in the same year he also announced that the French Bishops "remain too preoccupied by the correct functioning of the church and its structures." This only ensured that the responses to Gaillot when he later attacked the right wing French political party the National Front were even stronger. Also in 1987 Gaillot traveled to Athens to show solidarity with a boatload of Palestinian refugees.
In 1988, during a closed-door session of the assembly in Lourdes, he advocated the ordination of married men to the priesthood. After the proceedings had finished Gaillot spoke to the press about the discussions held and also promoted his own viewpoints. By promoting a revision of clerical celibacy
and the use of condoms, he caused considerable tension with the French bishops' conference, the situation being exacerbated by the fact that in speaking to the media about the session, Gaillot had violated convention regarding assembly conclaves. He later defended his previous actions, remarking that "I never broke the vow of celibacy ... I only questioned it. But that's worse." Also that year, Gaillot took the unprecedented step for a Roman Catholic bishop of blessing a homosexual union in a "service of welcoming", after the couple requested it in view of their imminent death from AIDS
.
In 1989, he participated in a trip to French Polynesia
organized by the peace movement, asking for the end to French nuclear testing. He also participated in the ceremony of the transfer of the ashes of the late bishop Baptiste-Henri Grégoire (1750–1831) to the Panthéon
, a necropolis for the great men of France. Grégoire had been instrumental in the first abolition of slavery, and the end of discrimination against the Blacks and the Jews during the French Revolution
. The hierarchy of the Catholic Church had refused to give him the last sacraments because of Grégoire's acceptance of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Gaillot was the only French bishop participating in this ceremony. By this stage in his career, Bishop Gaillot had earned an impressive reputation, both positive and negative. The French journalist Henri Tincq wrote in Le Monde
that "[Bishop Gaillot] has the merit of saying out loud what many people in authority in the church think down deep."
Throughout 1989 Gaillot continued to cause considerable tension within the French Bishops' Conference, to the extent that the members of the episcopate voted to censure him. This disciplinary action came after Gaillot gave an interview to the publication Lui, the French equivalent of Playboy
. Furthermore, he also gave interviews to leading gay magazines and lambasted the incompetence of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to judge the circumstances of homosexuality. At this point, the bishop offered his resignation to the Pope, should he feel it necessary to remove him; no such action was taken however.
Toward late 1989 he attempted concilatory movements, signing an agreement in which he promised "loyalty" and "docility" to the pope. This agreement did not last long however; within a week, Gaillot had distanced himself from the majority of other bishops by appearing on television to criticise the "feeble state of internal debate in the church" and express his feelings of grief that progress had not been made since the Second Vatican Council
.
In 1991, he opposed the Gulf War
, publishing a book called Open letter to those who preach war, but let it be waged by others. He also condemned the embargo on Iraq
. By the end of 1991 the French Bishops' Conference had censured Gaillot three times, most recently for his intervention in Haiti
, rousing support for Jean-Bertrand Aristide
.
Bishop Gaillot also caused controversy with a number of other actions. He was frequently condemned by others for his numerous television appearances, but justified them by claiming that if people still found a Bishop interesting, then they clearly still found the church interesting.
As well as this Bishop Gaillot also took a lenient stance with regard to abortion
, claiming he was not qualified to judge a woman who found herself in such a scenario.
By 1994, Archbishop Joseph Duval
of Rouen, the President of the French Bishops' Conference was attempting to convince Gaillot to cease in his actions; Gaillot however responded by withdrawing his offer of resignation, desiring that the scenario not be reduced to the same response given by the Vatican in the case of Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen
.
At the height of the controversy that Bishop Gaillot caused during his tenure as Ordinary of Évreux he was the target of a bitter campaign to disparge his name. Unsubstantiated allegations of homosexuality, racism, anti-Semitism, and psychosis and neurosis were all made by highly placed authorities in the French clergy. Bishop Gaillot countered in kind. He branded Archbishop Duval an "ayatollah" seeking to impose "ideological uniformity" within the French Bishops' Conference. Further, he also compared the leadership style of Cardinal Gantin to those of the East German political police the Stasi
.
Testament to Gaillot's strong yearning to reach out to the 'exiled' is the fact that by the time he left office at the Diocese of Évreux he had visited more prisons than any bishop in France's history.
, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
at the Vatican City
. He was offered the choice of resigning his see and becoming bishop emeritus of Évreux, or being removed from the see. In the latter case, he would be assigned to the titular see
of Partenia. Gaillot chose not to resign; instead, he left the Vatican and returned to France to give a press conference, providing one short press release to explain the events:
The See of Partenia, now located in the desert of Algeria, has not existed in reality since the 5th century when it was in Mauritania. This function is a kind of sinecure with no pastoral responsibilities. Gaillot still continues to reach out however, this time on the internet, as a "virtual bishop".
The choice to remove Bishop Gaillot as ordinary of Évreux was widely seen as a mistake by both lay people and clergy, and also by many non-religious people who had come to view Gaillot favorably. After his removal, a reported forty thousand people wrote letters to the Cathedral office at Évreux, with more being sent to the Vatican and eminent prelates. He was perceived favorably by a significant number of people, particularly due to his ministry to all people without distinction. In addition, he had become a national figure after the sanctions taken against him.
Official polls taken at the time consistently revealed the French public to be against the punishment brought upon Gaillot. One CSA survey showed that total of 64 percent of the public were against the firing of Jacques Gaillot as bishop of Évreux, with only 11 percent approving of his firing and a remaining 25 percent being undecided. Some later polls showed that support for Gaillot might even have been as high as 75 percent.
Reaction from the French clergy varied. While no French bishop expressed public support for Bishop Gaillot, Monsignor Jean-Michel Di Falco, the official spokesperson for the clergy hierarchy, reported that both Cardinal Coffy of Marseille and Archbishop Duval were "visibly troubled" by the actions taken against Gaillot. Duval later released an official statement saying that "I pleaded for patience in Rome". Only weeks later, Duval was on record as saying that he "regretted" the manner in which Rome had dealt with Gaillot. Duval later came to summarise the actions as being "an authoritarian act which cannot be accepted by society, even if it is carried out by the Church".
As well as this the Archbishop of Cambrai, Jacques Delaporte, defended Gaillot saying that "This is a wound for our church... It is a source of misunderstanding for the poor and for all those who seek the truth and who put their trust in the church."
After leaving the Bishop's Palace, Gaillot immediately moved in with illegal squatters in Paris' infamous Rue de Dragon street. Since then he has shown similar solidarity with the homeless. Bishop Gaillot continues to defend human rights and engage in activism, regularly publishing information about his activities on the website of Partenia.
He remains active as a pastor to the excluded. He also travels throughout France and also internationally, spreading the word of the Christian Gospel and defending those who are considered "outcasts" (namely immigrants). He is an avid anti-war protester and is considered by many to be a strong socialist. Jacques Gaillot had a strong friendship with Abbé Pierre
.
In 1995, after his removal as Bishop of Évreux
, Gaillot attended a Call to Action
conference in Detroit as one of the keynote speakers. He held three sessions, proving to be very popular despite speaking through a translator. He hosted the conference alongside other controversial Catholic Theologians including Professor Hans Küng
and Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
.
The removal of his responsibility over a specific geographical diocese permitted Gaillot to be even more daring in his activism. Indeed in 1995 following his removal, Bishop Gaillot engaged in protests regarding the policy of French nuclear testing
at Mururoa Atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia
. Gaillot went with a fleet of protest ships, being on the Greenpeace
vessel Rainbow Warrior
himself, he was subsequently removed from the ship by French commandos
, given that Rainbow Warrior had sailed within the exclusion zone, and escorted back to the atoll.
Gaillot has been so active in his beliefs that he has had to be stopped by the Vatican on numerous occasions, including one time when he was given a direct order by Pope John Paul II
to avoid a conference in Italy about homosexuality.
On World Youth Day
, in Bonn
, 2004, Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne
invoked Canon 763, which allows a bishop to prevent another bishop speaking in his diocese for a grave reason, to ban Gaillot from addressing a session of the event on the topic of Being a Christian in the Third Millennium: A Faith which has Hope.
Also in 2004 Bishop Gaillot met with Maryam Rajavi
, a controversial Iranian political activist. Gaillot strongly criticised the actions of some extremist religious leaders in Iran, going on to comment that “One must not forget that the strength of truth will make it [the Iranian resistance] triumphant. Darkness will give way and truth will prevail despite all the lies and ruses”. Rajavi publicly thanked the bishop and expressed that his support had been very effective in promoting the cause of the Iran resistance.
Furthermore, Gaillot has also taken position as a well-known public figure in France, fighting for a number of causes. One notable example of this is the fact that Bishop Gaillot serves as the co-chairman of one of France's foremost Human Rights
activist groups, 'Droits Devant' (Rights First).
In 2007 Gaillot expanded his use of the internet by posting a video interview on the website Google Video
, attempting to bring attention to the escalating violence
occurring in Darfur
.
Bishop Gaillot has written over a dozen books; one of them, A cry on Exclusion (Coup de gueule contre l'exclusion) got much media attention. The book criticized the French laws on immigration
proposed by the then-minister of the Interior
, Charles Pasqua
. This book was the justification for his demotion by the Catholic hierarchy. Another book released shortly after his demotion was Voice From the Desert: A Bishop's Cry for a New Church. This book was mainly an autobiographical text discussing events surrounding his demotion.
reported favorably of the bishop; other sources such as EWTN responded to the ordeal in a more negative manner, choosing to associate Bishop Gaillot with heresy and describing his appointment as a "terrible mistake".
Monseigneur
Monseigneur is an honorific in the French language. It has occasional English use as well, as it may be a title before the name of a French prelate, a member of a royal family or other dignitary. Also it is sometimes used as a name for a Frenchman who has a position on the court.Monsignor is both...
Gaillot), Titular Bishop
Titular bishop
A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese.By definition a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop the tradition of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is that he be ordained for a specific place...
of Partenia
Partenia
Partenia is a Roman Catholic titular see in present-day Sétif Province, Algeria. Formerly a major city, the episcopal see was abandoned and consumed by the Sahara desert in the 5th century...
, is a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Catholic clergyman and social activist. He was from 1982 to 1995 Bishop of Évreux in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. In 1995, he was demoted to being Titular Bishop
Titular bishop
A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese.By definition a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop the tradition of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is that he be ordained for a specific place...
of Partenia
Partenia
Partenia is a Roman Catholic titular see in present-day Sétif Province, Algeria. Formerly a major city, the episcopal see was abandoned and consumed by the Sahara desert in the 5th century...
, an extinct diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
, for having expressed too loudly, liberal positions on political and social matters; and heterodox opinions on religious matters.
It is these viewpoints and unorthodox stances that have earned Gaillot the nickname of The Red Cleric.
Education and early career
Jacques Gaillot was born in Saint-DizierSaint-Dizier
Saint-Dizier is a commune in the Haute-Marne department in north-eastern France.It has a population of 31,000 and is a subprefecture of the department...
, Haute-Marne
Haute-Marne
Haute-Marne is a department in the northeast of France named after the Marne River.-History:Haute-Marne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
. As a teenager, he already desired to become a priest. After his secondary studies, he entered the seminary in Langres
Langres
Langres is a commune in north-eastern France. It is a subprefecture of the Haute-Marne département in the Champagne-Ardenne region.-History:As the capital of the Romanized Gallic tribe the Lingones, it was called Andematunnum, then Lingones, and now Langres.The town is built on a limestone...
.
From 1957 to 1959, he carried out his compulsory military service in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
during the war of independence
Algerian War of Independence
The Algerian War was a conflict between France and Algerian independence movements from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria's gaining its independence from France...
.
From 1960 to 1962 he was sent to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
to complete his studies in theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
and get his bachelor's degree. He was ordained
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
a priest in 1961.
From 1962 to 1964, he was sent to the Higher Institute for Liturgy in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, while teaching at the major seminary in Châlons-en-Champagne
Châlons-en-Champagne
Châlons-en-Champagne is a city in France. It is the capital of both the department of Marne and the region of Champagne-Ardenne, despite being only a quarter the size of the city of Reims....
.
From 1965, he was a Professor at the regional seminary of Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
. He chaired many sessions to implement the orientations of the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
.
In 1973, he was appointed to the parish of St Dizier, his hometown, while becoming co-manager of the institute for the training of the educators of the clergy (IFEC) in Paris.
In 1977, he was appointed vicar general of the diocese of Langres. In 1981, he was elected vicar capitular. In May 1982, he was appointed bishop of Évreux, being consecrated into the position on 20 June.
Media attention and controversy
As soon as Bishop Gaillot had taken place in Évreux he began to engage in activities that may be said to have cost him his position. During his first Easter message he wrote: "Christ died outside the walls as he was born outside the walls. If we are to see the light, the sun, of Easter, we ourselves must go outside the walls." Following this he then stated that: "I'm not here to convince the convinced or take care of the well. I'm here to support the ill and offer a hand to the lost. Does a bishop remain in his cathedral or does he go into the street?. . .I made my choice." Within months Gaillot had begun to act on his word.In 1983, he supported a conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
before the court in Évreux. During the yearly assembly of the episcopate, he was one of the two bishops (of a total of 110) voting against the episcopate's text on nuclear deterrence, which supported having nuclear arms as a legitimate deterrent.
In 1984 he angered numerous Catholic authorities by refusing to support the movement in defence of French parochial schools.
In 1985, he supported the First Intifada
First Intifada
The First Intifada was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The uprising began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....
in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
and met Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
in Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
, being embraced by the future Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in a private audience. Perhaps the most notable event he performed in 1987 was attending, by invitation, a special session of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to speak out for disarmament
Disarmament
Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear arms...
. The first amount of considerable media attention paid to Gaillot came in January 1985 when he signed an appeal on behalf of underpaid Catholic school teachers; also signing the appeal was Georges Marchais
Georges Marchais
Georges René Louis Marchais was the head of the French Communist Party from 1972 to 1994, and a candidate in the French presidential elections of 1981 - in which he managed to garner only 15.34% of the vote, which was considered at the time a major setback for the party.-Early life:Born into a...
, the head of the French Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
. This proved to be highly controversial, bringing about the start of a right-wing campaign against Bishop Gaillot. Within his own diocese, Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
spear-headed the campaign. At this point Bishop Gaillot was described as being "a tool of the church's worst enemies"
In 1987, he went to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
to meet a young anti-apartheid militant from Évreux sentenced to 4 years in prison by the South African régime. There he also appeared at a demonstration where some Communist militants were also demonstrating. In order to accomplish this trip, he had to renounce going with the diocesan pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
to Lourdes
Lourdes
Lourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...
, a move that attracted criticism. Further, in the same year he also announced that the French Bishops "remain too preoccupied by the correct functioning of the church and its structures." This only ensured that the responses to Gaillot when he later attacked the right wing French political party the National Front were even stronger. Also in 1987 Gaillot traveled to Athens to show solidarity with a boatload of Palestinian refugees.
In 1988, during a closed-door session of the assembly in Lourdes, he advocated the ordination of married men to the priesthood. After the proceedings had finished Gaillot spoke to the press about the discussions held and also promoted his own viewpoints. By promoting a revision of clerical celibacy
Clerical celibacy
Clerical celibacy is the discipline by which some or all members of the clergy in certain religions are required to be unmarried. Since these religions consider deliberate sexual thoughts, feelings, and behavior outside of marriage to be sinful, clerical celibacy also requires abstension from these...
and the use of condoms, he caused considerable tension with the French bishops' conference, the situation being exacerbated by the fact that in speaking to the media about the session, Gaillot had violated convention regarding assembly conclaves. He later defended his previous actions, remarking that "I never broke the vow of celibacy ... I only questioned it. But that's worse." Also that year, Gaillot took the unprecedented step for a Roman Catholic bishop of blessing a homosexual union in a "service of welcoming", after the couple requested it in view of their imminent death from AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
.
In 1989, he participated in a trip to French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
organized by the peace movement, asking for the end to French nuclear testing. He also participated in the ceremony of the transfer of the ashes of the late bishop Baptiste-Henri Grégoire (1750–1831) to the Panthéon
Panthéon, Paris
The Panthéon is a building in the Latin Quarter in Paris. It was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve and to house the reliquary châsse containing her relics but, after many changes, now functions as a secular mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens...
, a necropolis for the great men of France. Grégoire had been instrumental in the first abolition of slavery, and the end of discrimination against the Blacks and the Jews during the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. The hierarchy of the Catholic Church had refused to give him the last sacraments because of Grégoire's acceptance of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Gaillot was the only French bishop participating in this ceremony. By this stage in his career, Bishop Gaillot had earned an impressive reputation, both positive and negative. The French journalist Henri Tincq wrote in Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
that "[Bishop Gaillot] has the merit of saying out loud what many people in authority in the church think down deep."
Throughout 1989 Gaillot continued to cause considerable tension within the French Bishops' Conference, to the extent that the members of the episcopate voted to censure him. This disciplinary action came after Gaillot gave an interview to the publication Lui, the French equivalent of Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
. Furthermore, he also gave interviews to leading gay magazines and lambasted the incompetence of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to judge the circumstances of homosexuality. At this point, the bishop offered his resignation to the Pope, should he feel it necessary to remove him; no such action was taken however.
Toward late 1989 he attempted concilatory movements, signing an agreement in which he promised "loyalty" and "docility" to the pope. This agreement did not last long however; within a week, Gaillot had distanced himself from the majority of other bishops by appearing on television to criticise the "feeble state of internal debate in the church" and express his feelings of grief that progress had not been made since the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
.
In 1991, he opposed the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, publishing a book called Open letter to those who preach war, but let it be waged by others. He also condemned the embargo on Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. By the end of 1991 the French Bishops' Conference had censured Gaillot three times, most recently for his intervention in Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, rousing support for Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Catholic priest and politician who served as Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies...
.
Bishop Gaillot also caused controversy with a number of other actions. He was frequently condemned by others for his numerous television appearances, but justified them by claiming that if people still found a Bishop interesting, then they clearly still found the church interesting.
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, claiming he was not qualified to judge a woman who found herself in such a scenario.
By 1994, Archbishop Joseph Duval
Joseph Duval
Joseph Marie Louis Duval was the French Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen.Born in Chênex, Duval was ordained to the priesthood on June 8, 1953. On May 14, 1974, Pope Paul VI appointed Duval auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rennes, and he was...
of Rouen, the President of the French Bishops' Conference was attempting to convince Gaillot to cease in his actions; Gaillot however responded by withdrawing his offer of resignation, desiring that the scenario not be reduced to the same response given by the Vatican in the case of Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen
Raymond Hunthausen
Raymond Gerhardt Hunthausen is a retired American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Helena from 1962 to 1975 and as Archbishop of Seattle from 1975 to 1991.-Early life and education:...
.
At the height of the controversy that Bishop Gaillot caused during his tenure as Ordinary of Évreux he was the target of a bitter campaign to disparge his name. Unsubstantiated allegations of homosexuality, racism, anti-Semitism, and psychosis and neurosis were all made by highly placed authorities in the French clergy. Bishop Gaillot countered in kind. He branded Archbishop Duval an "ayatollah" seeking to impose "ideological uniformity" within the French Bishops' Conference. Further, he also compared the leadership style of Cardinal Gantin to those of the East German political police the Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
.
Testament to Gaillot's strong yearning to reach out to the 'exiled' is the fact that by the time he left office at the Diocese of Évreux he had visited more prisons than any bishop in France's history.
Removal from Évreux
On 13 January 1995, Jacques Gaillot was summoned to a meeting with Bernardin Cardinal GantinBernardin Cardinal Gantin
Bernardin Gantin was a Beninese cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.-Early life and ordination:Born in Toffo, Benin, his name means "tree of iron" , which explains his coat of arms. He entered the minor seminary at age 14 in Benin, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1951 under Archbishop...
, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
Congregation for Bishops
The Congregation for Bishops is the congregation of the Roman Curia which oversees the selection of new bishops that are not in mission territories or those areas that come under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches who deal with the Eastern Catholics, pending papal...
at the Vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
. He was offered the choice of resigning his see and becoming bishop emeritus of Évreux, or being removed from the see. In the latter case, he would be assigned to the titular see
Titular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular bishop", "titular metropolitan", or "titular archbishop"....
of Partenia. Gaillot chose not to resign; instead, he left the Vatican and returned to France to give a press conference, providing one short press release to explain the events:
The See of Partenia, now located in the desert of Algeria, has not existed in reality since the 5th century when it was in Mauritania. This function is a kind of sinecure with no pastoral responsibilities. Gaillot still continues to reach out however, this time on the internet, as a "virtual bishop".
Reaction to removal
This removal sparked an emotional response from thousands of people across France and the rest of the world. Twenty thousand people, including Gaillot's own mother, attended Bishop Gaillot's last mass at the Cathedral in Évreux and stayed on the streets protesting the Vatican's decision. Protestors united under the leadership of the Communist mayor of the region and marched on the streets during the rain. With the Cathedral full, many people stayed outside for the bishop's last mass.The choice to remove Bishop Gaillot as ordinary of Évreux was widely seen as a mistake by both lay people and clergy, and also by many non-religious people who had come to view Gaillot favorably. After his removal, a reported forty thousand people wrote letters to the Cathedral office at Évreux, with more being sent to the Vatican and eminent prelates. He was perceived favorably by a significant number of people, particularly due to his ministry to all people without distinction. In addition, he had become a national figure after the sanctions taken against him.
Official polls taken at the time consistently revealed the French public to be against the punishment brought upon Gaillot. One CSA survey showed that total of 64 percent of the public were against the firing of Jacques Gaillot as bishop of Évreux, with only 11 percent approving of his firing and a remaining 25 percent being undecided. Some later polls showed that support for Gaillot might even have been as high as 75 percent.
Reaction from the French clergy varied. While no French bishop expressed public support for Bishop Gaillot, Monsignor Jean-Michel Di Falco, the official spokesperson for the clergy hierarchy, reported that both Cardinal Coffy of Marseille and Archbishop Duval were "visibly troubled" by the actions taken against Gaillot. Duval later released an official statement saying that "I pleaded for patience in Rome". Only weeks later, Duval was on record as saying that he "regretted" the manner in which Rome had dealt with Gaillot. Duval later came to summarise the actions as being "an authoritarian act which cannot be accepted by society, even if it is carried out by the Church".
As well as this the Archbishop of Cambrai, Jacques Delaporte, defended Gaillot saying that "This is a wound for our church... It is a source of misunderstanding for the poor and for all those who seek the truth and who put their trust in the church."
After Évreux
After being removed from his position as prelate of Évreux, Bishop Gaillot wrote the following comment:After leaving the Bishop's Palace, Gaillot immediately moved in with illegal squatters in Paris' infamous Rue de Dragon street. Since then he has shown similar solidarity with the homeless. Bishop Gaillot continues to defend human rights and engage in activism, regularly publishing information about his activities on the website of Partenia.
He remains active as a pastor to the excluded. He also travels throughout France and also internationally, spreading the word of the Christian Gospel and defending those who are considered "outcasts" (namely immigrants). He is an avid anti-war protester and is considered by many to be a strong socialist. Jacques Gaillot had a strong friendship with Abbé Pierre
Abbé Pierre
LAbbé Pierre, was a French Catholic priest, member of the Resistance during World War II, and deputy of the Popular Republican Movement . He founded in 1949 the Emmaus movement, which has the goal of helping poor and homeless people and refugees...
.
In 1995, after his removal as Bishop of Évreux
Évreux
Évreux is a commune in the Eure department, of which it is the capital, in Haute Normandie in northern France.-History:In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named Mediolanum Aulercorum, "the central town of the Aulerci", the Gallic tribe then inhabiting the area...
, Gaillot attended a Call to Action
Call to Action
Call to Action is an organization that advocates for a variety of liberal causes to change the Catholic Church. Call to Action's goals include women's ordination, an end to mandatory priestly celibacy, a change in the church's teaching on a variety of sexual matters, and a change to the way the...
conference in Detroit as one of the keynote speakers. He held three sessions, proving to be very popular despite speaking through a translator. He hosted the conference alongside other controversial Catholic Theologians including Professor Hans Küng
Hans Küng
Hans Küng is a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and prolific author. Since 1995 he has been President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic . Küng is "a Catholic priest in good standing", but the Vatican has rescinded his authority to teach Catholic theology...
and Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
Thomas Gumbleton
Thomas John Gumbleton is a retired Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit.-Education and career:...
.
The removal of his responsibility over a specific geographical diocese permitted Gaillot to be even more daring in his activism. Indeed in 1995 following his removal, Bishop Gaillot engaged in protests regarding the policy of French nuclear testing
Nuclear testing
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Throughout the twentieth century, most nations that have developed nuclear weapons have tested them...
at Mururoa Atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
. Gaillot went with a fleet of protest ships, being on the Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
vessel Rainbow Warrior
Rainbow Warrior (1978)
The Rainbow Warrior was a former UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food trawler later purchased by the environmental organisation Greenpeace...
himself, he was subsequently removed from the ship by French commandos
Naval commandos (France)
The Naval Commandos are the special forces of the French Navy. They are made up of ~500 members, mostly based in northwestern France , with several bases across the country for specific training needs. The Naval Commandos are nicknamed bérets verts . Their qualification training is one of the...
, given that Rainbow Warrior had sailed within the exclusion zone, and escorted back to the atoll.
Gaillot has been so active in his beliefs that he has had to be stopped by the Vatican on numerous occasions, including one time when he was given a direct order by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
to avoid a conference in Italy about homosexuality.
On World Youth Day
World Youth Day
World Youth Day is a youth-oriented Catholic Church event. While the event itself celebrates the Catholic faith, the invitation to attend extends to all youth, regardless of religious convictions....
, in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, 2004, Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne
Archbishopric of Cologne
The Electorate of Cologne was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire and existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. It consisted of the temporal possessions of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne . It was ruled by the Archbishop in his function as prince-elector of...
invoked Canon 763, which allows a bishop to prevent another bishop speaking in his diocese for a grave reason, to ban Gaillot from addressing a session of the event on the topic of Being a Christian in the Third Millennium: A Faith which has Hope.
Also in 2004 Bishop Gaillot met with Maryam Rajavi
Maryam Rajavi
Maryam Rajavi is an Iranian politician who is President elect of National Council of Resistance of Iran, a front group for People's Mujahedin of Iran, since 1993. She is the wife of Massoud Rajavi, a founder of the People's Mujahedin of Iran...
, a controversial Iranian political activist. Gaillot strongly criticised the actions of some extremist religious leaders in Iran, going on to comment that “One must not forget that the strength of truth will make it [the Iranian resistance] triumphant. Darkness will give way and truth will prevail despite all the lies and ruses”. Rajavi publicly thanked the bishop and expressed that his support had been very effective in promoting the cause of the Iran resistance.
Furthermore, Gaillot has also taken position as a well-known public figure in France, fighting for a number of causes. One notable example of this is the fact that Bishop Gaillot serves as the co-chairman of one of France's foremost Human Rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activist groups, 'Droits Devant' (Rights First).
In 2007 Gaillot expanded his use of the internet by posting a video interview on the website Google Video
Google Video
Google Videos is a video search engine, and formerly a free video sharing website, from Google Inc. Before removing user-uploaded content, the service allowed selected videos to be remotely embedded on other websites and provided the necessary HTML code alongside the media, similar to YouTube...
, attempting to bring attention to the escalating violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
occurring in Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
.
Bishop Gaillot has written over a dozen books; one of them, A cry on Exclusion (Coup de gueule contre l'exclusion) got much media attention. The book criticized the French laws on immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
proposed by the then-minister of the Interior
Minister of the Interior (France)
The Minister of the Interior in France is one of the most important governmental cabinet positions, responsible for the following:* The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes...
, Charles Pasqua
Charles Pasqua
Charles Pasqua is a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's cohabitation government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government of Edouard Balladur...
. This book was the justification for his demotion by the Catholic hierarchy. Another book released shortly after his demotion was Voice From the Desert: A Bishop's Cry for a New Church. This book was mainly an autobiographical text discussing events surrounding his demotion.
Consequences for the Church
The controversy surrounding Bishop Gaillot during the 1990s highlighted the deep rifts already present in the Catholic Church on an international level, but notably within France as well. Many American Catholic sources took sides in the Gaillot affair. Newspapers such as the National Catholic ReporterNational Catholic Reporter
The National Catholic Reporter is the second largest Catholic newspaper in the United States; its circulation reaches ninety-seven countries on six continents. Based in midtown Kansas City, Missouri, NCR was founded by Robert Hoyt in 1964 as an independent newspaper focusing on the Catholic Church...
reported favorably of the bishop; other sources such as EWTN responded to the ordeal in a more negative manner, choosing to associate Bishop Gaillot with heresy and describing his appointment as a "terrible mistake".
Quotes
- "The Gospel is where I learnt that love is stronger than law."
- "The church must be where there is need, and homosexuals have suffered innumerable discriminations. If the church doesn't free people from oppression, what purpose does it serve?"
- "We are in the situation of people who hold the key, but will not open the door."
- "I think that too much emphasis is put on the pope and the papacy. I firmly believe the reform will come from grassroots movements, not the hierarchy."
- "If we take as our starting point the poor, everything will be renewed - liturgy, catechism, the life of the church. It changes the way we think, pray, our very lifestyle. But if we take as our starting point the Status Quo, we will never be able to catch up with the Good News."
- "Rejection by others, community withdrawal, refusal of differences, fears and shame of oneself: all this must fought by dialogue and new legislative rules."
- "While the church often appears allied with the Right, the gospel is not neutral"
- "The church is too linked to a certain level of social wealth ... The poor are tolerated but not permitted to take responsibility or make decisions [because] they don't have the knowledge or the diplomas. Let's gamble more audaciously. Let the poor become conscious of their rights, dignity, and citizenship in the church. Let them appropriate the gospel. They don't need us as their spokesmen."
- "Religious dictators resemble giants who walk on weak footing because they do not rely on the interests of the people. As such, they are vulnerable. Although they may hang tough for a while and cause enormous pain and suffering for the people, they will ultimately collapse."
External links
- Biographical article about Bishop Gaillot
- Biographical article about Gaillot printed in National Catholic Reporter
- Biography of Jacques Gaillot, in French
- Bishop Gaillot's speech at the Call to Action Conference
- Interview with Bishop Gaillot
- Official site of Droits Devant - in French
- Official site of the See of Partenia