The current Archbishop of Lille in northern France, Laurent Ulrich, 70, was appointed Archbishop of Paris by Pope Francis on Tuesday, the French Episcopal Conference announced in a statement.
He will succeed Michel Aupetit, whose resignation was accepted at the beginning of December by the Supreme Pontiff, after several newspapers pointed out that he has a love affair with a woman, something that the interested party firmly denied.
Aupetit had also been criticized for his management of human resources in France’s most important diocese.
For his part, Ulrich, Archbishop of Lille since 2008, presents a moderate profile within the Catholic episcopate and is involved in the cause of migrants.
A native of Dijon, in the northeast of France, and with a double master’s degree in Philosophy and Theology, Ulrich was ordained a priest in 1979, in the diocese of Lyon (centre-east), where he became episcopal vicar and, later, vicar general. . In 2000 he was appointed bishop in Chamberí (central-eastern France). Subsequently, he held various positions in the French Episcopal Conference.
“It was a surprise, a total surprise,” he told RCF Hauts-de-France radio on Tuesday. “My ministry in Paris will be a ministry that wants to manifest the friendship of Christ,” he added.
Its establishment in Paris will take place on May 23, in the church of San Sulpice in the capital.
