Norbert Brunner (born 21 June 1942) is a Swiss

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

Roman 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 ...

. He served as Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sion in Switzerland from 1995 to 2014. He was the elected President of the Swiss Bishops Conference for the term 2010–2012.

Biography

Brunner was born 1942 in

Naters Naters is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Brig (district), Brig in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Valais in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Birgisch and Mund merged into the mun ...

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

. He studied at the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. It is the largest education facility in the Austrian States of Austria, ...

, Austria, and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood on July 6, 1968. His resignation as Bishop of Sion was accepted, in accordance with Canon 401.2 of the 1983

Latin rite Latin Rite may refer to: *The Latin Church, a ''sui iuris'' church of the Catholic Church *The Latin liturgical rites, a family of Christian rites and uses which includes the Roman Rite *The Roman Rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritua ...

Code of Canon Law Code of Canon Law () may refer to: * '' Corpus Juris Canonici'' ('Body of Canon Law'), a collection of sources of canon law of the Catholic Church applicable to the Latin Church until 1918 * 1917 ''Code of Canon Law'', code of canon law for the Ca ...

, 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 ...

on Tuesday, July 8th, 2014, and that same day, Pope Francis named the

Right Reverend The Right Reverend (abbreviated as The Rt Revd or The Rt Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian ministers and members of clergy. It is a variant of the more common st ...

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

Jean-Marie Lovey Jean-Marie Lovey, c.r.b. (born 2 August 1950), is a Swiss prelate. Since 2014, he has been Bishop of Sion. Previously, he served as provost of the congregation of the Canons regular of the Great St Bernard from 2009 to 2014. Early life and educ ...

c.r.b, then the Provost (Superior General) of the Congregation of

Canons Regular The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into Religious order (Catholic), religious orders, differing from both Secular clergy, ...

of St. Bernard the Great, as Brunner's successor.

Views

In November 2009, he declared that he was in favor of the ordination of

married priests Clerical marriage is the practice of allowing Christian clergy (those who have already been ordained) to marry. This practice is distinct from allowing married persons to become clergy. Clerical marriage is admitted among Protestants, including bo ...

, and that most Swiss Bishops shared his view. During a Synod, Bishop Brunner insisted that the measures taken at Vatican II to promote collegiality still had not found their objective. Once again, he said with preoccupation, "what value do the pastoral needs of the local churches have for the Roman Curia?" Brunner wrote about the canonical situation of the Society of St. Pius X and concluded that the 1988 consecrations were

valid but illicit Validity and liceity are concepts in the Catholic Church. Validity designates an action which produces the effects intended; an action which does not produce the effects intended is considered "invalid". Liceity designates an action which has been ...

, in the sense that Lefebvre did consecrate bishops but that these consecrations were against existing canonical norms.

External links

Diocèse de Sion

Profile

References

Living people 1942 births People from Naters 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Switzerland 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Switzerland Roman Catholic Diocese of Sion {{europe-RC-bishop-stub