Last Christmas in Toulouse for Archbishop Le Gall: “I want to be buried in the cathedral”
Through Guillaume Laurens
Published on
He practices the crawl with the Dauphins du TOEC, supports Stade Toulousain in Ernest-Wallon, exchanges texts with BigFlo & Oli… Although originally from Brittany, Bishop Robert Le Gall, 76 years old, is “a Toulousain among the Toulousains”. After submitting his resignation to the Pope, having reached the age limit, the archbishop of Toulouse lives his last days at the head of the diocese, before passing the torch to his successor Mgr Guy de Kerimel on January 30, 2022. But he does not intend to completely leave the Pink City …
While he is preparing to evaluate these Friday 24 and Saturday 25 December 2021 his latest christmas mess in his diocese, Bishop Le Gall returns to Toulouse news on his 16 years at the helm of the archbishopric, and on the small and great moments of life shared in this Pink City that he walks every morning, by offering himself an hour of walking in the heart of Toulouse, in particular along the Garonne. A city “full of vitality to which he claims his” attachment “. And to breathe: “It’s not for nothing if I wish to be buried in the cathedral From toulouse ! ” Interview.
“I wish to be buried in the cathedral of Toulouse”
News: 2021, you have asked to be released from your mission to the Pope, because you have reached the age limit, Defined start at 75 years. Until when are you at the head of the diocese?
Monsignor Robert Le Gall: “In mid-February, I wrote on the paper to hand over my load to him. He asked me to stay a few more months, because I was in good health, and I did an extra year. I had been ordained bishop on January 6, 2002 at the cathedral of Mende, where I stayed for four years. My seat in Toulouse for this mass of thanksgiving, just before my departure “.
Do you apprehend this departure?
Bishop RLG: “I have no apprehension, I have prepared things for a long time. I had more than 16 years of episcopal mission in Toulouse, it is a big load, a big diocese with a lot of vitality. It is the 2nd city in France for the number of students, I also keep in mind the student ministry that we launched in Toulouse.
It is a lively city, young, sometimes violent too, as we know, with its share of difficult trials. But it’s a wonderful city, it’s not for nothing if I want to be buried in Toulouse Cathedral! “
Why did you ask to be buried in Saint Stephen’s Cathedral?
Bishop RLG: “Each bishop can choose (his last home, editor’s note). I could have asked to be buried in my abbey in Brittany, in that of England, or in another vault. But I want to be buried in the cathedral of Toulouse , because my predecessors are there, and because of my attachment to the city. I am and I will still be part of the TOEC Dolphins! “
With the TOEC Dolphins, “I mostly crawl”
Do you swim a lot? And do you have other Toulouse passions?
Bishop RLG: “I go swimming every week with the TOEC Dolphins, I mainly crawl. I did 1,100 meters last Monday and I intend to continue, especially when I will be in Toulouse.
I am also a supporter of Stade Toulousain, I go to see matches, and I was often disappointed to miss them! I also went to see rugby union matches ”.
Where are you going to settle now?
Bishop RLG: “I was 38 years in monastic life in Brittany, as a Benedictine monk. I cannot go back, but I will retire to another Benedictine monastery, on the Isle of Wight, England, a place that I know well, whom I have been seeing for 50 years.
I will come back to Toulouse regularly, a few weeks a year. I will have a pied-à-terre in a small apartment within the gerontological center that I had built at the diocesan house of Côte Pavée. This will allow me to stay in touch with Toulouse, to continue to come and swim there “.
On the English Isle of Wight, in the English Channel, do you plan to evangelize them to red and black rugby?
Bishop RLG: “(Laughs) There’s only one rugby, and that’s the Stadium!”
You are a faithful of the Dolphins of the TOEC, of the Stade Toulousain, but we have also seen you with BigFlo and Oli, whom you hear meeting the Pope (and whose concert he also attended at the Zénith, editor’s note). Do you still meet them?
Bishop RLG: “Yes, we saw each other again recently! I met Oli recently, during an event at the Saint-Etienne chapel. He came to participate in the Diakonia of Beauty, a round table on the theme of beauty in art and in all its forms “.
In fact, you have become very Toulousain …
Bishop RLG: “I am a Toulousain among the people of Toulouse. And if the people of Toulouse appreciate me, I am all the happier for it!”
Bishop Guy de Kerimel? “I will not be at his installation mass”
You have had a lot of files to deal with during these 16 years. If you didn’t have to keep just one, what would remain THE highlight of your mission in Toulouse?
Bishop RLG: “It’s a difficult question! Throughout these 16 years, many events have happened. But one of the things that struck me the most was the celebration in the cathedral after the assassinations of Mohamed Merah in 2012, at the end of which we had signed a charter of fraternity with the representatives of other religions, the French bishops and the representatives of the Jewish communities of New York and Washington. celebration”.
It is Christmas Eve, an important date for Christians. Are you going to prefer the last masses in Toulouse?
Bishop RLG: “I am going to offer a first Christmas mass in prison, this Friday evening, at the Muret power station. The two others which were planned at the Seysses remand center were unfortunately canceled due to the Covid (a cluster was declared in the establishment.
I still have great celebrations on the program in January, until the arrival of my successor, whom I knew well and whom I have already received. We will stay a few weeks together here, for the tiling. But I will not be at his installation mass (January 30, editor’s note), I prefer to be discreet. For me, it’s another life that begins “.
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