Jean-Pierre Ricard
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Jean-Pierre Ricard (born 26 September 1944) is a French
prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...
of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
who was
Archbishop of Bordeaux The Archdiocese of Bordeaux (–Bazas) (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Burdigalensis (–Bazensis)''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Bordeaux (–Bazas)''; Occitan: ''Archidiocèsi de Bordèu (–Vasats)'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or a ...
from 2001 to 2019. He has been a
cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
since 2006. He was previously Bishop of Montpellier for five years and before that an auxiliary bishop in
Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...
. From 2001 to 2007 he was president of the French Episcopal Conference. In November 2022, Ricard admitted he sexually abused a 14-year-old girl in the 1980s when he was a parish priest. Both French prosecutors and the Holy See launched investigations, though criminal proceedings were dropped in February 2023 because the
statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...
had expired. Church authorities then imposed restrictions on Ricard's exercise of his ministry for five years.


Education

Born in
Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
on 26 September 1944 to Georges and Jeanine Ricard, Jean-Pierre Ricard attended the Lycée de Saint-Charles and the Lycée Périer where he earned his
Baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...
and then at Lycée Thiers ( hypokhâgne). He studied philosophy at the Major Seminary of Marseille from 1962 to 1964. He spent one year performing National Service to promote development in
Bamako Bamako is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2022 population of 4,227,569. It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country. Bamak ...
, Mali. He also studied at the Carmes Seminary in Paris, and the
Institut Catholique de Paris The Institut catholique de Paris (, abbr. ICP), known in English as the Catholic University of Paris (and in Latin as ''Universitas catholica Parisiensis''), is a private university located in Paris, France. History: 1875–present The Institut ...
, earning a degree in theology and preparing for a doctorate.


Priest

He was ordained a priest on 5 October 1968 in Marseille and did pastoral work in the
Archdiocese of Marseille The Archdiocese of Marseille (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Massiliensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Marseille'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France.
from 1968 to 1993. He was assistant pastor of the parish of Sainte-Émilie de Vialoar from 1970 to 1978 with responsibility for religious teaching, the formation of priests and laymen. He headed the Mistral Center of Religious Culture from 1975 to 1981 and was diocesan delegate for seminarians from 1975 to 1985. While pastor of the parish of Sainte-Marguerite from 1981 to 1988, he served as associate delegate for ecumenism and episcopal vicar for the zone of south Marseille from 1984 to 1988. He was regional theologian for pastoral affairs (1986–1993) and general secretary of the Diocesan Synod of Marseille (1988–1991), and vicar general from 1988 to 1993 to Cardinal Robert Coffy, Archbishop of Marseille.


Bishop

Ricard was named
titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...
of Pulcheriopoli and appointed
auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...
of
Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...
on 17 April 1993. He received his episcopal consecration on 6 June 1993 at the cathedral of Sainte-Marie-Majeure, Marseille, from Cardinal Coffy. On 4 July 1996 he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Montpellier and became bishop there upon the death of his predecessor on 6 September. He became vice-president of the Bishops' Conference of France on 9 November 1999 and participated in the Tenth Ordinary Synod of Bishops, held in
Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...
, 30 September–27 October 2001. He was elected to a three-year term as president of the Conference on 6 November 2001 and re-elected to another term in 2004.
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...
named him
Archbishop of Bordeaux The Archdiocese of Bordeaux (–Bazas) (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Burdigalensis (–Bazensis)''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Bordeaux (–Bazas)''; Occitan: ''Archidiocèsi de Bordèu (–Vasats)'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or a ...
on 21 December 2001. On 6 September 2002, John Paul named him a member of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is a department of the Roman Curia in charge of the religious discipline of the Catholic Church. The Dicastery is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of t ...
, and Pope Benedict renewed that appointment on 6 May 2006. He attended the 11th General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, 2–23 October 2005. He gave a series of interviews that appeared as a book, ''Les Sept Défis pour l'Eglise'' (''The Seven Challenges for the Church'') in 2003.


Cardinal

He was made
Cardinal-Priest A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. ...
of Sant'Agostino in the
consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistor ...
of 24 March 2006 by
Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...
. He was appointed to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, the commission responsible for relations with the Society of Saint Pius X on 8 April 2006. On 17 January 2009,
Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...
appointed him a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture. In 2006, as president of the French Bishops Conference, Ricard objected to the recent authorization of the use of human embryos for scientific research in France and elsewhere in Europe. He called it a grave ethical transgression. In 2009 Ricard told the newspaper ''La Croix'' that the Pope Benedict wanted to reconcile all Catholics by allowing a wider use of the Traditional Latin Mass, which does not undermine the achievements of Vatican Council II. On 21 January 2010 he was appointed a member of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity The Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, previously named the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), is a dicastery within the Holy See whose origins are associated with the Second Vatican Council which met intermittently fr ...
, and on 6 July 2010 of the
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments () is the dicastery (from , from δικαστής, 'judge, juror') of the Roman Curia that handles most affairs relating to liturgical practices of the Latin Church as distin ...
, and on 12 June 2012 of the
Congregation for Catholic Education The Congregation for Catholic Education (Institutes of Study) () was the pontifical congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for: universities, faculties, institutes and higher schools of study, either ecclesial or non-ecclesiastical depende ...
, and confirmed in the Education post by Pope Francis on 30 November 2013. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the
2013 papal conclave A papal conclave was held on 12 and 13 March 2013 to elect a new pope to succeed Benedict XVI, who had resigned on 28 February 2013. Of the 117 eligible Cardinal electors in the 2013 papal conclave, cardinal electors, all but two attended. On th ...
that elected
Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...
. On 8 March 2014, he was named by
Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...
to serve as a member of the newly established Council for Economic Affairs, intended to oversee the work of the new Secretariat for the Economy, the financial regulatory agency for the departments of the
Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...
. He closed the Archdiocese's Saint Joseph seminary in May 2019 because enrollment failed to meet the minimum number of seminarians required. He said its seminarians can continue their studies and spiritual formation in Toulouse or Rome and that the closure was part of a national assessment of the country's many small seminaries. On 11 July 2019, Bordeaux Mayor Nicolas Florian awarded Ricard the city's medal. On that occasion, Ricard praised the city for fostering collaboration between civic authorities and the leaders of its religious communities. He said he anticipated retiring as Archbishop of Bordeaux in a few weeks and returning to his native region. He announced on 4 August that he had already submitted his letter of resignation to Pope Francis, who accepted it on 1 October without naming his successor. On 10 February 2022, Ricard was named papal delegate for the Foyers de charité, an organization subject to oversight by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life following disclosures in 2020 of sexual abuse committed by one of its founders.


Admission of sexual abuse

Prompted by the February 2022 announcement that Ricard had been charged with supervising a religious organization where sexual abuses had occurred, a 50-year-old woman contacted the president of the Conference of men and women religious of France, Véronique Margron, and reported that Ricard, a close friend of her family at the time, had subjected her to sexual abuse in the 1980s when he was working as a priest in Marseilles. This anonymous woman's parents, motivated by the same report of Richard's appointment as apostolic delegate in February, wrote a letter about Ricard's behavior to the bishop of Nice. Ricard resigned as apostolic delegate for the Foyers de charité in March, just a month after accepting the assignment, citing health problems and was succeeded by Michel Dubost, bishop emeritus of Évry, on 11 March. When the bishop of Nice eventually learned how young Ricard's victim had been, he forwarded her parents' letter to civil authorities in October. By November, authorities in Marseilles had opened a preliminary investigation of aggravated sexual assault. On 7 November 2022, Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, Archbishop of Reims and president of the French Bishops Conference, released a statement in which Ricard admitted abusing a 14-year-old girl when he was a parish priest in the 1980s: "My behaviour has inevitably led to grave and lasting consequences for this person." He pledged to withdraw from public ministry. Following the release of Ricard's statement, Margron, a figure well known in France for her campaigning against clerical sexual abuse, told an interviewer that she had found Ricard's victim "credible and sincere" and that she had described an experience of "powerful trauma of great violence". Margron also said she feared Ricard was minimizing what he had done, that she expected the Church to take disciplinary action and that he should be denied his right as a cardinal to participate in a papal election. She said the language he used to describe his actions–"reprehensible conduct" (''comportement répréhensible'')–was subject to many interpretations and commented: "It means everything and nothing. One needs to specify what we are talking about!" French authorities dropped criminal proceedings against Ricard in February 2023 because the
statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...
had expired. Later in the spring, the
Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is a department of the Roman Curia in charge of the religious discipline of the Catholic Church. The Dicastery is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of t ...
imposed restrictions on Ricard for a term of five years–which can be extended–prohibiting him from acting as a priest publicly outside his diocese of residence, currently Digne, and only privately within that diocese with the permission of the local bishop, Emmanuel Gobilliard, who has opposed granting permission. His status and privileges as a cardinal were not affected.


See also

*
Catholic Church in France The Catholic Church in France, Gallican Church, or French Catholic Church, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope in Rome. Established in the 2nd century in unbroken communion with the bishop of Rome, it was sometim ...


Notes


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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ricard, Jean-Pierre 1944 births Living people Roman Catholic clergy from Marseille 21st-century French cardinals Archbishops of Bordeaux Institut Catholique de Paris alumni Bishops of Montpellier 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in France Members of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith Cardinals created by Pope Benedict XVI Members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments Members of the Congregation for Catholic Education Officers of the Legion of Honour Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in France Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in France category:Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II