TOULOUSE (FRANCE)
The Pillar [Washington DC]
August 16, 2025
“I decided to reverse my decision”
The Archbishop of Toulouse appointed a new chancellor Saturday, after widespread opposition to his recent appointment of a priest convicted of sexually assaulting a minor.
But while Archbishop Guy de Kerimel said August 16 that he apologized to victims of sexual abuse for causing them harm, he also defended his initial appointment, insisting it was a “sign of hope for abusers.”
“In order not to provoke division among bishops, and not to remain at a standoff between those ‘for’ and ‘against,’ I decided to reverse my decision; this has now been done, with the appointment of a new chancellor,” Archbishop de Kerimel wrote in an Aug 16 statement.
“My decision was interpreted by many people as a snub to the victims of sexual abuse; I ask the victims’ forgiveness. This was obviously not my intention.”
“Others saw it as a sign of hope for the perpetrators of abuse who had served their sentence and are experiencing a very trying social death. Here, I must ask forgiveness from the one I named and in whom I trust, for not having been able to find the rightful place to which he is entitled,” the archbishop added.
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The archbishop’s statement came more than two months after de Kerimel announced the appointment as chancellor of Fr. Dominique Spina, who was in 2006 sentenced to five years in prison for multiple counts of raping 16-year-old boy. The rapes took place in the 1990s, while Spina served as a school chaplain in Baynonne, France.
In July, the appointment made headlines across France, as victims’ advocacy groups — and the priest’s own victim — said the appointment was unacceptable.
Soon after he got pushback over the appointment, the archbishop said that he had “taken the side of mercy” in regards to Father Spina.
“[Spina] no longer exercises any pastoral responsibility, other than that of celebrating the Eucharist, alone or exceptionally for the faithful,” Kerimel said in a statement released to news outlets July 7.
“Considering that we have nothing to reproach this priest for over the past 30 years for acts likely to be the subject of legal proceedings, canonical or civil, I have therefore chosen to appoint him to this administrative function.”
According to canon law, a diocesan chancellor is responsible for maintaining the archives of a diocesan curia. But in many dioceses, the role is conferred upon a person in a senior advisory role of the diocesan bishop.
The chancellor “must be,” canon law explains, “of unimpaired reputation and above all suspicion.”
In July, Archbishop de Kerimel said that the chancellor’s office would be mostly administrative, and that Spina had already served as the archdiocesan vice chancellor.
“By this function, Spina is, in fact, a notary and secretary of the diocesan curia. Moreover, Father Spina does not accompany couples to marriage,” Kerimel said in the press release that month.
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Amid controversy over the appointment, the president of the French bishops’ conference last week asked de Kerimel to “reconsider” his decision to appoint Spina.
“Such an appointment to such an important position, both canonically and symbolically, can only reopen wounds, reawaken suspicions, and disconcert the people of God,” said an Aug. 11 statement from the leadership of the French bishops’ conference.
The statement was signed by Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, president of the bishops’ conference, as well as Archbishop Vincent Jordy of Tours and Bishop Benoit Bertrad of Pontoise, vice presidents of the conference.
“Our Church, for several years, has courageously taken the path of truth in the painful question of abuses committed within it. It is very important to continue this work in all sectors of ecclesial life,” the statement said.
“This shift in perspective… [has] initiated, for our ecclesial institution, a long and demanding work of conversion, which we are determined to continue. In this spirit, we have entered into a constructive dialogue with Mgr Guy de Kerimel, Archbishop of Toulouse, inviting him to reconsider the decision he had taken regarding the appointment of the Chancellor of his diocese,” it added.
While de Kerimel said Aug. 16 that he wanted to avoid “division” among France’s bishops, he also insisted that priests convicted of abuse might still have a place in the Church.
“We, who have the mission to bear witness to the Gospel, cannot ignore the mercy that Jesus always showed, even on the cross, by forgiving the wrongdoer who turned to Him. We believe that justice is not opposed to mercy, mercy is not opposed to justice,” the archbishop wrote.
“France has renounced the death penalty; justice believes in the possibility of change for criminals and works towards their rehabilitation. It cannot give free rein to revenge; this would be to the detriment of the perpetrator, of course, but also of the victim and of society as a whole. In the name of such justice, we would fall into the worst injustices. Justice does not return to the perpetrator the harm he has done to the victim: ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’ It places a limit on the exclusion of the guilty party, except in extreme cases involving dangerous individuals.”
“In the Gospel, Jesus went to great lengths to rehabilitate sinful and guilty people. He called to positions of responsibility men like Matthew the tax collector, Peter the renegade, Paul the criminal, Mary Magdalene the prostitute, and so many others. Paul had made victims, perhaps also Saint Matthew in another order. However, Jesus forgave their sins, they changed their lives, and they exercised, in the name of Christ, an authority that lasts to this day. This evangelical logic goes even beyond rehabilitation, which only affects one’s place in society: it is called conversion, because it changes the human heart,” the archbishop added.
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Originally a priest of the Diocese of Bayonne, Spina had served as a high school chaplain, parish priest, and diocesan vocations director before being accused of rape. His victim, a teenage boy, later entered diocesan seminary, where he told the rector what had occurred.
Subsequently, an investigation was launched into Spina’s actions, and he was arrested in 2002. In 2006, he was convicted of rape and began serving his prison sentence.
While his case was forwarded to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Spina was not laicized, seemingly because his victim was not regarded canonically as a minor at the crimes took place.
In the years the priest committed sexual crimes against the student, canon law defined a minor — for purposes of the statutes regarding sexual crimes — as a person under 16 years of age. Spina’s victim was 16 years old.
After his release from prison, Spina was incardinated in the Diocese of Toulouse, where he was assigned to a local parish. There, he was in charge of children’s ministry.
The public learned of Spina’s prior conviction in 2016, when the French news site Mediapart reported on the priest’s conviction and his new assignment. After the report, Spina was removed from public ministry by Archbishop Robert Le Gall, who was succeeded by de Kerimel in 2022.
He was restored to an archdiocesan position by de Kerimel, even amid restrictions on his public priestly ministry.
According to Le Monde, psychiatric experts at Spina’s 2006 trial testified that the priest had “paranoid, narcissistic and perverse dispositions,” no sense of his own responsibility for the crimes, and was at risk of committing similar crimes in the future.
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Spina was not formally removed from the office of chancellor; instead he resigned at de Kerimel’s request, “with genuine openness of heart,” according to an Aug. 16 decree.
Fr. Léopold Biyoki was appointed to serve as chancellor in Toulouse, effective Sept. 1.