Bishop Dominique Rey, of Fréjus-Toulon, France, one of the best and most solid bishops in the world, and a beacon of liberty for the Traditional Mass, resigned his office today. He is 72.
Francis had first suspended the ordinations in his diocese. Then, he named a coadjutor for him, but encouraged him to stay until his regular retirement, at 75. In his letter of resignation today, Rey says,
“During a private audience on December 23, 2023, the Pope had encouraged me to receive this collaboration [the coadjutor bishop] in a fraternal spirit, and not to resign. At the end of a first year in which the suspension of ordinations was lifted for almost all the candidates, the nuncio informed me that the Holy Father was asking me to leave my position as diocesan bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, without my knowledge of any new elements than those that had motivated the designation of the coadjutor bishop.”
Shameless and disloyal? Yes, but par for the course for Francis.
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Guillaume de Thieulloy had a great rundown of the whole disgusting story for our friends at French blog Le Salon Beige:
Bp. Rey has just resigned - at the express request of the Apostolic Nuncio. Officially, for two reasons. The first concerns the economic management of the diocese. This was already one of the main reasons put forward for the canonical visitation that led to his being sidelined. However, I would be curious to know how many French dioceses would be spared if Rome took an interest in their economic management. Before Covid, it was said that half of them were bankrupt. Since then, the abuse crisis and the collapse of revenues have taken their toll, and, at the very least, three quarters of France's bishops could suffer the same fate as their confrere from Toulon for reasons of economic management.