On 8 April, Pope Leo XIV appointed Monsignor Benoît Aubert, 53, as Bishop of Limoges, France.
A
priest of the Archdiocese of Paris, he has served as pastor of the
Dourdan–Bienheureuse-Marie-Poussepin pastoral sector in the Diocese of
Évry-Corbeil-Essonnes since 2022, as well as serving as chaplain at
Notre-Dame de l’Ouÿe, a retreat centre belonging to the Archdiocese of
Paris.
He succeeds Bishop Pierre-Antoine Bozo, who was appointed coadjutor bishop of La Rochelle on 19 August 2025.
Listening, accompaniment and closeness
As
episcopal vicar for young adults in Paris, Monsignor Aubert described
his role as receiving what young people entrust to him, including "the
most intimate, even the most disturbing" experiences, and becoming a
kind of "receptacle of hearts".
On OeuvreDesVocations.fr, he highlights the "synodal method" of "conversation in the Spirit" in his pastoral approach.
Loyal Member of the Apparatus
Accordign
to Riposte-Catholique.fr, he lost his tenderness when Catholics of the
Roman rite protested in November 2021 against the suppression of five
Masses in the Roman rite in Paris.
They had requested a meeting with Archbishop Aupetit of Paris for several months, but were ignored.
Thus,
they decided to confront him during a Eucharist for students by
silently unfurling a banner reading 'No to the Liturgical War'. The
parish priest told them to take down the banner and wait in the
sacristy, where they could meet the Archbishop. They complied. However,
Archbishop Aupetit simply left them waiting and sent his secretary, Rev.
Aubert, instead.
He claimed that the Archbishop was "very busy". As secretary, he could not answer their questions.
Ecological Conversion and the 'Cry of the Earth'
Furthermore,
Monsignor Aubert has promoted "integral ecology" within the Archdiocese
of Paris. According to LaNef.net, one example is a young adult weekend
at the Collège des Bernardins in February 2020, titled 'What integral ecology? Listening to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor'.
In
2020, as rector of Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes, he announced that the
parish had obtained the 'Église Verte' ('Green Church') label. This is
an ecumenical programme that commits participants to 'ecological
conversion'.
In the parish bulletin, he stated: "We are joining
this movement in response to Pope Francis's call in his encyclical
'Laudato Si'."
Francis-era pastoral priority
In
his parish writings, he adopts the characteristic language of Pope
Francis, hoping for a "more fraternal and sustainable world".
In
October 2020, he recommended that his parishioners read Francis's
encyclical Fratelli Tutti: "I wish you all a good reading of 'Fratelli
Tutti', certainly as beautiful as the previous ones."
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