IMAGE CREDIT

Vatican bio of Cardinal Philippe BARBARIN:

https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_barbarin_p.html  

Philippe BARBARIN on FIU's Cardinals Database (by Salvador Miranda):

https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios2003.htm#Barbarin  

Cardinal Philippe BARBARIN on Gcatholic.org:

https://gcatholic.org/p/17                    

Cardinal Philippe BARBARIN on Catholic-Hierarchy.org:

https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbarbarin.html   

Archdiocese of Lyon on Gcatholic.org:

https://gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/lyon0.htm?tab=info       

Archdiocese of Lyon on Catholic-Hierarchy.org:

https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dlyon.htm

The Catholic Encyclopedia, “Primate” (via newadvent.org):

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12423b.htm

Brittanca.com, “Lyon”:

https://www.britannica.com/place/Lyon-France 

Zenit.org coverage of Cardinal Barbarin's 2013 heart attack:

https://zenit.org/2013/07/24/cardinal-philippe-barbarin-suffers-heart-attack/ 

2020 The Guardian reporting on the Preynat case:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/16/defrocked-french-priest-jailed-for-abusing-scouts-over-20-year-period 

2019 France24 coverage of Cardinal Barbarin and the Preynat scandal as it stood at the time:

https://www.france24.com/en/video/20190319-pope-refuses-french-cardinal-barbarins-resignation-over-abuse-cover-scandal

2020 La Croix interview with the early-retiring Cardinal:

https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/cardinal-philippe-barbarin-begins-busy-early-retirement/12647   

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TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to Popeular History, a library of Catholic knowledge and insights.

Check out the show notes for sources, further reading, and a transcript.

Today we're discussing another current Cardinal of the Catholic Church, one of the 120 or so people who will choose the next Pope when the time comes.

One of eleven children, Philippe Xavier Christian Ignace Marie Barbarin was born on October 17, 1950 in Rabat, Morocco, located right in the middle of the second big inward curve if you're following the coast coming up from south. Though Morocco is over 99% Muslim, Rabat has popped up on our radar before, thanks to recent Cardinal López Romero winding up as Archbishop of Rabat after his continent hopping journeys. Cardinal Barbarin hasn’t gotten credit as Morocco's first Cardinal, when you Google that up you get lots of Lopez Romero. Granted, Philippe Barbarin wasn't born in the modern nation of Morocco, rather he was born in French Morocco, like Cardinal Mamberti, if you remember that. And it's fair to not count colonizers who never really lived the same lives as the locals. I don't know for sure that Philippe actually fits that description, but that's also not the only reason folks might not be in a rush to credit him as the first Moroccan Cardinal… but I'm getting ahead of myself.

After Moroccan independence, Philippe wound up in France, experiencing the joys of military service while also studying a little theology and a lot of philosophy in Paris, getting a licentiate in the former from the Carmes Seminary and a doctorate in the latter from the Sarbonne.

In 1977, Philippe Barbarin was ordained a priest for the young diocese of Créteil, centered on an eponymous suburb southeast of Paris. From 1977 till 1985, he served as Vicar in two parishes: Notre-Dame d'Alfortville and Notre-Dame de Vincennes, Notre-Dame of course being French for “Our Lady”, on the off chance that you got this deep without already knowing that.

From ‘85 to ‘90, Father Barbarin served two parishes and a school simultaneously, as well as an ecumenical role in the diocese. The parishes, if you're wondering, were Saint François de Sales d'Adambille en Saint-Maur, and Saint-Hilaire de la Varenne.

From ‘91 to ‘94, Father Barbarin served as the pastor of Saint Léger Parish and then transferred quite a ways, effectively being loaned out to the Archdiocese of Fianarantsoa in Madagascar, where he taught theology at the Major Seminary of Vohitsoa. Which explains the presence of Malagasy, the dominant language of Madagascar, on the list of languages Cardinal Barbarin Speaks, along with English, Italian, Spanish, German, and of course his native French.

1998 was white phone time, when Father Barbarin heard from Pope Saint John Paul the Second that he was going to be made Bishop of Moulins, back in France. As is so often the case, you can see why the three bishops that consecrated him were chosen for the task: his principal consectator was the Archbishop of Fianarantsoa, who he had been serving under in Madagascar, accompanied by his original bishop in France from Créteil, as well as the Bishop emeritus of Moulins who he was replacing.

Physically located in pretty much the exact center of France, it's worth noting that I simply do not trust the demographic data Catholic-Hierarchy.org has for the Diocese of Moulins. I want to give them credit for their essential work, and it's entirely possible the error is in the sources they're relying on and not some issue on their end, but I don't see how you can have the shifts shown in the period recorded. I'm sure I've missed flagging bad data before, so don't take this as an indication that I'll point it out whenever there's something fishy floating around, but I do what I can and felt I should mention the oddity there. At some point when I get around to it I'll cross reference their source material since they're kind enough to cite it.

In 2002, Bishop Barbarin was chosen as the next Archbishop of the ancient see of Lyon in southeasternish France. Allegedly, Lyon was the Capital of the Gauls back when the Gauls were a thing, and in any event it's pretty universally agreed that it's old enough one of its first bishops was a disciple of a disciple of Saint John, so basically Jesus’ spiritual great-grandson, and that wasn't even the *first* bishop there. To this day, the Archbishop of Lyon also carries the title of Primate of the Gauls.

In 2003, that is, at the next opportunity, Archbishop Barbarin was made a Cardinal, which is completely unsurprising given the status of Lyon: every Archbishop of Lyon in the 20th century was made a Cardinal. And as we know, the red hat gets you additional duties: he was made a member of the Congregations for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Of course the most famous duty of a Cardinal is the one he exercised in the conclave of 2005 that elected Pope Benedict, and again in the 2013 election that gave us Pope Francis.

Later on in 2013, Cardinal Barbarin suffered a heart attack while in South America preparing for World Youth Day. An unsourced wikipedia entry states that he underwent a successful triple bypass surgery in Martinique a few days later, and I think it's safe enough to say something like that happened: in any event he did survive.

In 2016, Cardinal Barbarin began to get asked questions about his handling–or lack thereof-of a bad priest, a certain Father Bernard Preynat. Content warning, I'm not going to go into graphic detail but yes we're talking about the abuse of minors here. From 1971 to 1991 Father Preynat abused some seventy minors he encountered principally through the scouting program.

Obviously, and allow me to stress this emphatically, the charge against Barbarin was not the abuse itself, but rather his lack of disclosure of the situation to the authorities. This was very much a charge though, because his lack of reporting was apparently a crime, and as a victim myself- though not of clergy- rightly so. Apparently in 2019 when Cardinal Barbarin was originally convicted of failing to report and was given a six month suspended sentence, he offered his resignation to Pope Francis, who initially refused, speaking of the presumption of innocence, which seems an odd line to take given Barbarin had *just* been convicted, but hey what do I know.

In any event, the next year Cardinal Barbarin's conviction *was* overturned on appeal, so it seems Pope Francis was perhaps wise to wait, but then in March his holiness turned around and accepted Cardinal Barbarin's resignation after all, making him the Archbishop Emeritus of Lyon. 

Cardinal Barbarin says he is available for whatever mission Pope Francis might entrust him with next.

Barring a further change in his status, which to be clear I do not expect as I think it would have happened already if it was going to happen, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin remains eligible to participate in future conclaves until he turns 80 in 2030.

Today's episode is part of Cardinal Numbers. Stay tuned to see if today's Cardinal gets selected for a deeper dive in the next round! Thank you for listening; God bless you all!