what are the challenges of the Plenary Assembly of the Bishops of France?

The universal Church comes to Lourdes. The Plenary Assembly of the Bishops of France, from November 5 to 10, will be marked by the opening intervention of Mgr Sviatoslav Chevtchouk, primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. He will testify to the situation of his country at war and will tell how the Ukrainians have held out since the start of the Russian invasion.

The French episcopate will also be able to hear four bishops from the African continent, including Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, archbishop of Kinshasa (RD-Congo), discuss their links with the Church of France, in particular with the Fidei Donum priests, sent on mission in French dioceses. So many interventions which will be able to nourish the discussions of the bishops on the common thread of this assembly with four work sequences: the mission and the announcement of the faith.

Support for adult victims of abuse

The other important subject will be the support of adult victims of sexual violence in the Church. During the last Assembly of Lourdes, in March, Mgr Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF), announced work to put in place a system to respond to a shortage: the Independent National Recognition and Reparation Authority (Inirr), set up after the publication of the Ciase report, only concerns victims who were minors at the time of the events. The bishops must therefore define the contours of this new structure, national or more local, as close as possible to the dioceses. An essential issue which must take place over the long term – the next ten years – and could end as early as November or, more surely, at the next assembly in March 2025.

During this Autumn Assembly, during which there will be no shortage of informal discussions around the revelations about Abbot Pierre, other current topics will be addressed, such as Catholic teaching. Recently, several controversies have put the question of “specific character” back at the center of debate. Furthermore, while the Synod on synodality has just ended in Rome, the French delegation will be able to explain the results of these three years of reflection and relay an invitation to go further.