Archbishop Laurent Ulrich. / Mory Hugo via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Vatican City, Apr 26, 2022 / 04:03 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Tuesday named Archbishop Laurent Ulrich as the new Catholic archbishop of Paris.
Ulrich, the archbishop of Lille, northern France, succeeds Archbishop Michel Aupetit, who resigned in December.
The new Paris archbishop was born in 1951 and ordained a priest of the diocese of Dijon, eastern France, in 1979.
He was appointed archbishop of Chambéry, southeastern France, by Pope John Paul II in the year 2000. He was transferred to Lille in 2008 by Benedict XVI.
Among the challenges facing the 70-year-old archbishop will be to heal the divisions exposed in the Paris archdiocese during Aupetit’s tenure from 2017 to 2021.
He will also oversee the restoration of the interior of Notre-Dame Cathedral following a devastating fire in 2019. The cathedral is expected to reopen for worship on April 16, 2024, five years after the blaze.
In his first message to his new flock, dated April 25, Ulrich said: “It is a joy for us to wait for the day of its reopening so that we can still proclaim the living Christ there, while obviously not neglecting the many reasons that attract people to it.”
“I am aware of the complexity of the challenges that will be presented to us in the years to come, and this should not worry us, but it requires our cooperation: a profoundly synodal attitude, ‘it is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium,’ according to Pope Francis.”
Archbishop Michel Aupetit of Paris. Ibex73 via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Aupetit submitted his resignation to Pope Francis in November 2021 after the magazine Le Point published a report portraying the archbishop as a divisive and authoritarian figure.
The report also raised concerns about Aupetit’s contacts with a woman dating back to 2012, when he was vicar general of the archdiocese. The archbishop said he was not in a relationship with the woman.
Pope Francis accepted Aupetit’s resignation on Dec. 2, 2021, but later expressed doubt about the validity of the criticisms of the archbishop.
During an in-flight press conference a few days later, the pope told journalists that he had accepted Aupetit’s resignation “on the altar of hypocrisy” because the archbishop had “lost his reputation so publicly.”
Aupetit announced in February that he would continue to serve as a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, after receiving encouragement from Pope Francis.
The Paris archdiocese, which dates back to the 3rd century, serves an estimated 1.3 million Catholics out of a total population of around 2.2 million people.
The archdiocese said on April 26 that Ulrich will be installed as the 142nd archbishop of Paris at 6:30 p.m. local time on May 23 at the Church of Saint-Sulpice.
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Burlington, Vt., Sep 21, 2021 / 17:05 pm (CNA).
Some former residents of a long-closed Catholic orphanage in Vermont say they are dissatisfied with the local diocese’s response to their… […]
A photo of Deborah Emmanuel’s photo on her Facebook page. Emmanuel, a Christian student in Nigeria, was killed by an Islamic mob on her college campus on May 12, 2022. / CNA
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 23, 2022 / 14:01 pm (CNA).
Deborah Emmanuel, the Nigerian Christian student who was murdered by a Muslim mob last month, spent her final hours with a close friend who has shared exclusive details of the brutal killing with CNA.
CNA is using the pseudonym “Mary” for the woman’s protection. A Christian herself, she nearly was killed by the same mob.
Significantly, Mary’s account contradicts the claim of authorities that they attempted to rescue Emmanuel from the mob but were “overwhelmed.”
On the contrary, the police “could have stopped the murder if they had really tried,” Mary told CNA.
Emmanuel’s so-called “blasphemy murder” took place on May 12 on the campus of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, Sokoto State, a major city located in the northwest corner of Nigeria. The city is home to the Muslim Sultan who serves as the top religious authority for Nigeria’s 100 million Muslim believers.
Prior to the attack, Emmanuel, a home economics major who attended Evangelical Church Winning All, was bullied by fanatical Muslim students at the teacher’s college for audio statements she made on WhatsApp, a messaging platform. She credited Jesus Christ for her success on a recent exam, and when threatened and told to apologize she refused, invoking the Holy Spirit, saying “Holy Ghost fire! Nothing will happen to me,” according to WhatsApp messages reviewed by CNA.
In the aftermath of these heated exchanges, a Muslim mob attacked Emmanuel on the college’s campus. After an hours’ long siege, the mob beat and stoned her to death, then set her body on fire with burning tires, according to graphic video footage posted online. The rioters also rampaged in a Catholic Church compound in Sokoto, according to reports. The riots spread to other Christian-owned properties over two days.
A relative of Emmanuel’s, who said he was standing approximately 60 feet from the mob, also told CNA he believes the police could have saved her. He, too, asked that his identity be withheld for his safety.
Unarmed campus security personnel made a futile attempt to rescue Emmanuel, according to a campus security report shared with CNA. But Emmanuel’s relative said there were dozens of armed police officers on the scene who didn’t fire their weapons.
The commissioner of police in the state also said officers did not fire their weapons. However, he maintained that only 15 of his officers were at the scene, according to a report in The Epoch Times.
Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Diocese of Sokoto has strongly condemned the attack and called on Emmanuel’s killers to be brought to justice..
“This matter must be treated as a criminal act,” he said. You can read his full statement here.
A plea for help
On the day of Emmanuel’s death, Mary received a frantic phone call from her around 9 a.m, asking for help. By that time, women who lived in her dormitory had begun slapping Emmanuel, Mary told CNA.
Mary arrived at the campus to see her friend surrounded by a mob and being led by a campus staffer to a gatehouse building for her protection. The Muslim students had bloodied her face and head with blows from rods and were joined by male students who believed their duty was to execute a blasphemer on the spot, Mary said.
“Allahu Akbar!” meaning “God is Great” was bellowed for hours, she said.
Mary initially stayed outside the building and tried to intercede for her friend, but she said it wasn’t long before the mob turned on her, too. Within moments Mary was trying to ward off punches and blows from sticks as she backed away from the gatehouse and toward the gate of the college 40 feet away.
Mary said a college lecturer rescued her and brought her to join Emmanuel inside the gatehouse by 10 a.m.
At 10:25 a.m., the relative said, six officers of the Department of State Security (DSS) — the equivalent to the FBI in the U.S. — arrived, firing their rifles in the air but with no effect. Five minutes later, he said, a group of Sokoto police came on the scene and fired tear gas, temporarily scattering the mob.
The above map is based on eyewitness accounts of the murder of Nigerian Christian student Deborah Emmanuel on her college’s campus on May 12, 2022. Graphic by Alexander Hunter
For about 10 minutes police had an opportunity to disperse the mob and force their way to the gatehouse to extract Mary and Emmanuel, Emmanuel’s relative believes. But that did not happen.
By 11 a.m., the mob had returned to the building, holding cloths against their faces to ward off the tear gas. The mob tried hurling stones at Mary through the windows of the locked gatehouse, but Mary barricaded herself behind a table.
The mob then threw gasoline on the women through the front windows and attempted to burn them alive, Mary said.
“Deborah was soaked with gasoline, but when lighted plastic was pitched in through the windows, I quickly stamped the flames out,” Mary said.
No escape
All of this transpired as police and DSS officers watched from a safe distance, according to Emmanuel’s relative.
The traumatized women said little to each other, but Emmanuel was still hoping to do her examination that day, Mary said. At one point, she recalled, Emmanuel asked, “What time is it? I have an examination at noon.” Mary said she looked at her cell phone and told her it was 1 p.m.
After another excruciating hour of siege, the mob pushed down a single Sokoto policeman guarding the door, broke the padlock on the door, and rushed in to find Mary and Emmanuel hiding behind furniture, Mary and the relative related. Two rioters placed a chain around Mary’s neck and pulled it hard, trying to strangle her, she recounted.
“Let this girl go! She is not an offender,” Mary recalled one of the rioters shouting. But as they released her, a young man in the mob grabbed Emmanuel and took her to the front steps of the gatehouse. There she was bludgeoned with steel pipes and wooden rods and stoned, the relative said.
Two DSS officers attempted to rescue Emmanuel but were hit by stones and pushed aside, the relative said. The police officers remained in position and did not come to her aid, he alleged.
Mary collapsed inside the gatehouse gasping from the strangulation. Approximately 40 minutes later, she said, she was roused by one of the mob to leave the building, which was on fire.
As she walked through the smoke, Mary saw the gatehouse burning and Emmanuel’s lifeless body in flames.
The face of Christian persecution
In the aftermath of Emmanuel’s murder, human rights advocates and others have leveled sharp criticism at Nigeria’s government leaders for not doing enough to stem the rising tide of violence directed at Christians and other non-Muslims.
Relatives of Deborah Emmanuel at her burial in Niger State, Nigeria. Courtesy of the Emmanuel family
Anti-Christian hatred was evident in days of rioting in Sokoto following the arrest of two suspects in Emmanuel’s murder. The rioters reportedly were incensed that there were any arrests at all.
“Deborah Emmanuel, like kidnapping victim Leah Sharibu (who was enslaved by Boko Haram insurgents in 2019), has become the face of Christian persecution in Nigeria,” said Kyle Abts, executive director of the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON). “There has not been an official report from the security forces on the lynching of Ms. Emmanuel. Her killing and subsequent riots show clear government complicity and coverup.”
Tina Ramirez, founder of the international nonprofit Hardwired Global, also believes the Nigerian government has been unwilling to take a strong stand against blasphemy killings.
“The recent attacks on students are reminiscent of the attacks at Nigerian colleges two decades ago that were the precursor to the growth of extremist groups across Nigeria’s North and Middle Belt,” Ramirez wrote in a text to CNA.
From left: Our Lady of Fatima; Our Lady of Lourdes; Our Lady of Guadalupe; Our Lady of the Rosary; Our Lady of Sorrows; Our Lady, Undoer of Knots; and Our Lady of Peace. / Credit: Ricardoperna via Canva Teams; rparys via Canva Teams; Bluebird13 … […]
3 Comments
Archbishop Aupetit was effectively removed by His Holiness on the pontiff’s alleged “Altar Of Hypocrisy” following submission of resignation [recall the difference with Cardinal Reinhard Marx who was instead retained on similar grounds]. “The problem with the altar of hypocrisy is that the weight of public opinion becomes unbearable. And this also influences the criteria for the selection of new bishops, because their positions must be those that public opinion can understand so that the Church is not under attack. It is an original sin that has been with us since the election of Pope Francis” (Andrea Gagliarducci MondayVatican 4.25.22).
Gagliarducci waxing objectively perceives Francis’ Altar of Hypocrisy rationale for dismissing/accepting removal as a seeming benevolent bow to public opinion, although he does name it a sin. Or is it more pretext to reconstitute [Archbishop Aupetit practiced medicine from 1979 to 1990 and taught bioethics until 2006. His book, L’Embryon, Quells Enjeux? The Embryo: What Are the Stakes? Paris: Éditions Salvator, 2008 is a vigorous defense of the unborn child in NCReg]. Perhaps too rigorous a defender of the unborn to meet Dicastery science?
“Pope Francis, over the years, has become the protagonist of what has been defined by many as “a pastoral turning point.” The profile of some new bishops immediately made cardinals testifies to this: in the United States, Blase Cupich, transferred to Chicago; Wilton Gregory, moved to Washington; and Joseph Tobin, transferred to Newark. In Latin America, the creation of the archbishop of Huancayo Pedro Carlo Barreto as cardinal” (Ibid).
Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, Aupetit’s replacement, reveals little of the moral character and expertise of the latter. Despite allegation that Aupetit had an unacceptable shoulder rubbing relationship with his secretary warranting Aztec sacrifice on the Altar of Hypocrisy when His Holiness upgrades those who are far more engaged.
But wait, Fr. Morello, we find biblical reference to the likes of the rainbow-bannered Marx, Bats-sing and Hollerich who, now with complicit media accompaniment (!), would hijack the synodal process to sabotage inborn human morality and settled Catholic teaching on faith and morals…
BIBLICAL! Without commenting on either Archbishop Ulrich or the former Archbishop Apetit, we find the relevant scriptural passage right here in the Liturgy of the Hours for today (the second Tuesday after Easter):
“…I know you cannot tolerate wicked men; you have tested those self-styled apostles [!] who are nothing of the sort, and discovered that they are imposters [!]” (Rev 2:2). Sinodize that!
Pope Francis who, in 2017, appointed Bishop Aupetit as Archbishop to Paris, accepted the latter’s resignation because there was much media backlash.
However, a few months later the Archbishop said: “He also wanted to show his confidence by asking me to remain in the Roman Congregation for Bishops.” This is the “department of the Roman Curia responsible for identifying and selecting candidates for bishop, before presenting them to the pope for a final decision.” https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/02/05/archbishop-aupetit-pope-francis-asked-me-to-stay-in-congregation-of-bishops-after-paris-resignation/
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Archbishop Aupetit was effectively removed by His Holiness on the pontiff’s alleged “Altar Of Hypocrisy” following submission of resignation [recall the difference with Cardinal Reinhard Marx who was instead retained on similar grounds]. “The problem with the altar of hypocrisy is that the weight of public opinion becomes unbearable. And this also influences the criteria for the selection of new bishops, because their positions must be those that public opinion can understand so that the Church is not under attack. It is an original sin that has been with us since the election of Pope Francis” (Andrea Gagliarducci MondayVatican 4.25.22).
Gagliarducci waxing objectively perceives Francis’ Altar of Hypocrisy rationale for dismissing/accepting removal as a seeming benevolent bow to public opinion, although he does name it a sin. Or is it more pretext to reconstitute [Archbishop Aupetit practiced medicine from 1979 to 1990 and taught bioethics until 2006. His book, L’Embryon, Quells Enjeux? The Embryo: What Are the Stakes? Paris: Éditions Salvator, 2008 is a vigorous defense of the unborn child in NCReg]. Perhaps too rigorous a defender of the unborn to meet Dicastery science?
“Pope Francis, over the years, has become the protagonist of what has been defined by many as “a pastoral turning point.” The profile of some new bishops immediately made cardinals testifies to this: in the United States, Blase Cupich, transferred to Chicago; Wilton Gregory, moved to Washington; and Joseph Tobin, transferred to Newark. In Latin America, the creation of the archbishop of Huancayo Pedro Carlo Barreto as cardinal” (Ibid).
Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, Aupetit’s replacement, reveals little of the moral character and expertise of the latter. Despite allegation that Aupetit had an unacceptable shoulder rubbing relationship with his secretary warranting Aztec sacrifice on the Altar of Hypocrisy when His Holiness upgrades those who are far more engaged.
But wait, Fr. Morello, we find biblical reference to the likes of the rainbow-bannered Marx, Bats-sing and Hollerich who, now with complicit media accompaniment (!), would hijack the synodal process to sabotage inborn human morality and settled Catholic teaching on faith and morals…
BIBLICAL! Without commenting on either Archbishop Ulrich or the former Archbishop Apetit, we find the relevant scriptural passage right here in the Liturgy of the Hours for today (the second Tuesday after Easter):
“…I know you cannot tolerate wicked men; you have tested those self-styled apostles [!] who are nothing of the sort, and discovered that they are imposters [!]” (Rev 2:2). Sinodize that!
Pope Francis who, in 2017, appointed Bishop Aupetit as Archbishop to Paris, accepted the latter’s resignation because there was much media backlash.
However, a few months later the Archbishop said: “He also wanted to show his confidence by asking me to remain in the Roman Congregation for Bishops.” This is the “department of the Roman Curia responsible for identifying and selecting candidates for bishop, before presenting them to the pope for a final decision.”
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/02/05/archbishop-aupetit-pope-francis-asked-me-to-stay-in-congregation-of-bishops-after-paris-resignation/