At the request of Pope Francis, Bishop Dominique Rey has tendered his resignation as bishop of the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon. A press release from the Var diocese on January 7, 2025, made the announcement. The Pope accepted his resignation on the same day.
The 72-year-old bishop, who has held the post since 2000, has been at odds with Rome in recent years, particularly over the discernment of vocations to the priesthood and religious life, especially from the traditionalist world.
Following the suspension of ordinations scheduled for 2022 in Toulon and an apostolic visitation which began in 2023, the Vatican named a coadjutor bishop, Bishop François Touvet. He received the task of governing certain areas—administration, clergy, and religious communities—of the diocese's life. (A coadjutor bishop is one that is named to take over the post of bishop once the current prelate resigns or dies.)
After a year of working alongside Bishop Touvet, “the nuncio informed me that the Holy Father was asking me to hand over my office,” informs Bishop Rey in his press release.
He says that he’s not aware of “any new elements in relation to those which motivated the appointment of the coadjutor bishop.”
The Pontiff accepted his resignation on Tuesday, naming Bishop Touvet as his successor, according to the Holy See Press Office.
Bishop Rey, who is a member of the Emmanuel Community, will thus leave his post after 25 years at the head of the diocese, three years before the canonical retirement age of 75. This announcement comes just a few weeks after a private audience with Pope Francis on November 30.
Conflictive relations with Rome for years
His departure is the latest episode in a long series of interactions between Rome and this diocese in the south of France. As long ago as November 2020, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, metropolitan archbishop of Marseille—whose ecclesiastical province includes the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon—made a “fraternal visit” to the diocese, focusing on the issue of vocations.
According to a Roman source interviewed by I.MEDIA at the time, there were numerous cases of priests in the diocese in an irregular canonical situation, notably for cases of abuse. This raised serious questions in Rome about the “logic of numbers” followed by Bishop Rey. On paper, his diocese is one of the most dynamic in France, particularly in terms of vocations.
On June 5, 2022, the announcement of the indefinite postponement of 10 ordinations to the priesthood and diaconate planned for this diocese caused surprise. It opened months of uncertainty as to the fate of these 10 men — nine of whom have since been ordained.
Then, in February 2023, the Dicastery for Bishops ordered an apostolic visit to this troubled diocese, led by Archbishop Antoine Hérouard of Dijon.
There was a new development in November 2023. Pope Francis appointed Bishop François Touvet as coadjutor bishop to take charge of the diocese's finances and property management, and guiding its clergy, seminarians, and communities. This reduced Bishop Rey's margin of government.
“I sometimes lacked discernment and guidance,” he says.
In an interview that Famille Chrétienne published on Tuesday, Bishop Rey maintains that his relations with Bishop Touvet were “pacific.” He acknowledges his departure as “a trial and a moment of self-questioning.”
“I was mainly criticized for welcoming too many communities or vocations to the priesthood and religious life, particularly from the traditional world, as well as for dysfunctions in the economic and financial management of the diocese,” he says. He then justifies himself: “When you launch projects, you always take a risk. I sometimes lacked discernment or guidance. However, when dysfunctions were identified, I always took the necessary canonical and administrative measures.”
In the pages of Le Figaro, Bishop Rey also granted that Rome's mistrust of the traditionalist world — many of whose institutes he has welcomed to Toulon — is aimed at certain circles that are “closed in on themselves” and “cling to ritual in a way that is sometimes formalistic, not well adjusted.”
For the time being, Bishop Rey plans to continue his mission in the service of evangelization, “even if the concrete ways are not yet completely decided,” he tells the French daily.
