Dominique Rey

Dominique Marie Jean Rey (born 21 September 1952) is a French prelate of the Catholic Church who was the Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon from 2000 to 2025. He is a member of the Emmanuel Community, and he is considered one of the more conservative French bishops. He also frequently celebrates Tridentine Mass. He has been criticized for ordaining priests who have failed to qualify for the priesthood in their home countries, failing to supervise religious communities he has established, and for inadequate action against sex abusers in his diocese.

Biography

Rey was born in Saint-Étienne on 21 September 1952. He served as curé of Ste. Trinité church in Paris from 1995 to 2000.

On 16 May 2000, Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon. He received his episcopal consecration on 17 September 2000 from Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger.

On 18 September 2012, Bishop Rey was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to participate in the October 2012
13th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.

He is the author of a book that argues that being a Catholic and a Freemason are incompatible.

In June 2013, he organized a four-day conference on sacred liturgy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.

On 6 February 2014, Pope Francis named him a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

In August 2015, breaking with the policy of the Conference of French Bishops, he invited Marion Maréchal-Le Pen a prominent National Front member of the French parliament, to participate on a panel of politicians in his diocese. Rey defended the invitation: "The FN is a party like any other on the political chessboard. You have to be realistic, don't cover your eyes and ears!"

Within the Bishop's Conference of France he is a member of the episcopal finance commission.

An apostolic visitation of the diocese, ordered by the Dicastery for Bishops was announced on 7 February 2023, and the investigators arrived on 13 February: Antoine Hérouard, Archbishop of Dijon, assisted by Joël Mercier, secretary of the Dicastery for the Clergy, and a Curial official since 2002. The visitation concluded on 10 March after conducting 110 interviews and reviewing 600 written submissions. Its report expressed particular concern about how communities with questionable pasts were welcomed and about the conduct of missions to convert Muslims.

On 21 November 2023, Pope Francis named Bishop François Touvet to serve as coadjutor bishop of Fréjus-Toulon and assigned him much of the authority Rey would normally have continued to exercise even when assisted by a coadjutor: "the special powers of the diocesan government in the areas of administration, management of the clergy, training of seminarians and priests, support of institutes of consecrated life, societies of apostolic life, and associations of the faithful". Rey welcomed him and said he was delighted Pope Francis had accepted his proposal that a coadjutor be appointed. Rey had a private audience with Pope Francis on 22 December.

Within the Bishop's Conference of France Rey was a member of the episcopal finance commission from 2017 to 2023.

Pope Francis accepted his resignation on 7 January 2025, after asking Rey to submit it late in 2024.

Notes

Distinctions

* Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite, France
* Prelate Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910) (2017).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rey, Dominique
1952 births
Living people
People from Saint-Étienne
21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in France