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Pope Francis accepts the resignation of an archbishop who admitted he had a relationship with a woman

The Pope Francisco he accepted the resignation of the Archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, after admitting that he had an “ambiguous” relationship with a woman in 2012, the Vatican reported.

Aupetit explained yesterday that he offered to leave the post to “preserve the diocese from the division that continue to cause suspicion and loss of confidence.”

He also reported that the Pope appointed the former Archbishop of Marseille, Georges Pontier, as the Apostolic Administrator of Paris.

Michel Aupetit, who has been in charge of the Church of Paris since 2018, sent a letter to Francisco offering his resignation, after a report in the weekly magazine Le Point revealed that he had an intimate and consensual relationship with a woman. Aupetit said she did not have sex with that person.

The article was based on several anonymous sources who said they saw an email from 2012 that Aupetit mistakenly sent to his secretary. However, he denied being the author of the message.

The archbishop, who said goodbye to the “heavy burden of the diocese of Paris, trying to fulfill it with fervor and dedication,” said he had “his heart deeply at peace”, after acknowledging that he had been “very concerned about the attacks” of those who have been object.

The news comes as the Catholic Church in France is reeling from the publication in October of a major investigation that found that French clergymen sexually abused more than 200,000 children over the past 70 years.

Faced with this situation, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, director of the French Episcopal Conference, said at the beginning of last month that the Church of that country would sell properties and, if necessary, request loans to create a fund to compensate all the victims. .

Only the Pope can appoint, remove bishops or accept their resignations. Aupetit is 70 years old, five years younger than the retirement age of the prelates.

The Pontiff has rejected the resignations of other prelates involved in scandals.

PAL

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