Bishop Jacques Gaillot, protesting and progressive figure within the Church, died at 87

He had defended the cause of divorcees, homosexuals, immigrants, or even the right to blasphemy. Bishop Jacques Gaillot died on Wednesday April 12 at the age of 87, announced the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF). He had been hospitalized in Paris for pancreatic cancer, according to the diocese of Evreux. “Beyond certain positions that may have divided, we remember that he above all kept the concern for the poorest and the peripheries”said the CEF.

The bishop had been relieved by the Vatican in 1995 of his functions at the head of the bishopric of Evreux because of his protest positions. Very involved in social matters, he had been criticized in the French episcopate because of his positions which went beyond the reserve required for bishops. His dismissal was seen as a sanction from the conservatives, supported by John Paul II.

An interview with the pope in 2015

After his eviction from the diocese of Evreux, he was named honorary bishop “in partibus” of Partenia, a diocese of Mauritania that disappeared in the 5th century. Jacques Gaillot then made this diocese “virtual” an instrument of defense of the excluded (undocumented, homeless, etc.).

In September 2015, he was received by Pope Francis for almost an hour. “The pope said to Monsignor Gaillot: ‘What you are doing for the excluded is good'”had reported France Télévisions.

“Until recently, he continued to visit prisoners in prison”, explained for his part one of his relatives, quoted by AFP. He specifies that Jacques Gaillot was “still honorary president of Rights in front!, association for the defense of the excluded and the homeless”.