Originally published at National Catholic Register
Known for his support of the Traditional Latin Mass, Bishop Rey had also ordained diocesan clerics using the 1962 Roman Pontifical.
Pope Francis accepted Tuesday the early resignation of French Bishop Dominique Rey of Fréjus-Toulon following years of Vatican scrutiny over the ordination of clerics using pre-Vatican II liturgical books and other concerns.
Bishop François Touvet, appointed coadjutor bishop of the same diocese in November 2023, now automatically succeeds Bishop Rey.
In a Jan. 7 press release, Bishop Rey, who has led the diocese since 2000, said he was recently informed by the nuncio, the Pope’s ambassador in France, that Pope Francis wanted him to submit his resignation after he had encouraged him not to resign in December 2023.
While Bishop Rey added that he does not know what changed in the intervening year, “faced with misunderstandings, pressures, and polemics that are still harmful to the unity of the Church, the ultimate criterion of discernment for me remains that of obedience to the successor of Peter.”
The Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon in the south of France was able to ordain six men to the transitional diaconate last month after all ordinations in the diocese were halted by the Vatican in
