Pope Leo XIV appointed the first bishop of his pontificate France: Fr. Jean Pelletier, priest of the Diocese of Angers, who has been appointed Bishop of Mende.
“At first I was very surprised, because I was not waiting for another priest of the diocese (from Angers) to be appointed bishop, after Mons. Fran1cois Gourdon, Bishop of Saint-Dié, was chosen by the Pope Francis”Said Mons. Pelletier in statements to the Kto Catholic television.
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“I did not imagine, at all, that that could also be a call for me today,” added the elected bishop.
Pope Francis appointed Mons. Gourdon, 56, new Bishop of Saint Di exactly three months ago, on February 20, 2025.
“I pray every day for my new diocese”
Regarding his vocation, the elected bishop recalled that “at 15, a young man with something more age than me who was in the last year, asked me ‘And why don’t he cure?”, After which he spent a long time, several years, even in the working world, “but little by little the Lord guided me. They asked me the question at 15 and ordered at 31”.
Mons. Pelletier also commented that “one thing that has marked me and that it has also prepared for this new mission, is that I was in charge of the formation of young priests in the province (from Rennes in Saint-Pern) for three years”, as well as the accompaniment to young people who thought of being priests.
“Since I knew about my appointment, I pray every day for my new diocese, the diocese of Mende” and “I hope they help me quickly know this diocese that the Lord entrusts me,” he said.
The Episcopal Planning Mass of Mende’s new bishop will be on September 7, 2025 at 3:30 pm (local time) in the Notre-Dame-Et-Saint-Provat Cathedral of Mende.
Who is the first bishop of France that Leo XIV has named in his pontificate?
Mons. Jean Pelletier is the first bishop of France appointed in the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV. With 62 years, he was until now superior of the charles of Foucauld pro-themed house, from the ecclesiastical province of Rennes in Saint-Pern.
According to informa The Vatican press office was ordered priest on June 26, 1994 for the Diocese of Angers. He has a degree in theology, with specialization in biblical and systematic theology, from the Catholic Institute of Paris.
It has performed, among others, the following positions: Member of the Chaplain of International Agricultural and Catholic International Youth Movement (2007); Parish of St. Joseph-of-the-Basses-Valleys in Tiercé (2008); Manager Parish of St. Mary of the Sources of the Evre in Treentines (2011); Vicar Episcopal of the Dean of Cholet, Coteaux-of-Loire, Mauges and Lyon.
He has also been assistant to the superior of the charles of Foucauld from the ecclesiastical province of Rennes in Saint-Pern (2019) and parish administrator in Candé (2021).
Walter Sánchez Silva
I am husband since 2008. With my wife we have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before birth. Since I joined ACI Press in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Colonia, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the family’s synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Sinodality, in 2023. I follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers the persecution of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as the ecclesial news in the region.