A visit by the Pope to Marseille? The Archbishop of Marseille, created cardinal this Saturday, invited François
Pope Francis raises this Saturday 20 high dignitaries to the rank of cardinal, including the Archbishop of Marseille. The opportunity for Jean-Marc Aveline to hope for the arrival of the Holy Father in the Marseille city.
In his journey to God, he took a giant step.
Jean-Marc Aveline, 63, laughing eyes and speaking frankly (“Bernard Tapie was not a saint, far from it”, he declared during the funeral of the main interested party) was created cardinal by Pope Francis, this Saturday afternoon in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, with 19 other prelates from all over the world. 300 Marseille faithful made the trip for the occasion.
It must be said that the stakes are high: in addition to Jean-Marc Aveline, only a Frenchman (Dominique Mamberti) has been able to achieve this feat, under the current pontificate. It was in 2015.
supreme consecration
The last archbishop of Marseille to have received his red bar, his square headdress and his cardinal’s ring is called Roger Etchegaray, a close friend of John Paul II, for whom he will make dozens of diplomatic trips.
To be a cardinal is to enter the highest sphere of the Catholic and Roman Church; it is to be able to elect the paper; it is to be one of the possible pretenders to the Holy See.
A consecration for Jean-Marc Aveline, a former kid from the Oran region who, after Algeria gained independence, followed his Pieds-noir family and settled in France: the suburbs of Paris , then Marseille, a city that he has closely guarded.
Extremely rare, Jean-Marc Aveline carried out practically all of his ministry in Marseille (ordained a priest in 1984 in Marseille, he became auxiliary bishop there in 2013, then archbishop in 2019).
“Marseille is one of the last cosmopolitan cities in the Mediterraneanhe declares. Cairo was, Alexandria was, Istanbul was, Beirut is still a little. Marseille is Europe and the Mediterranean, it’s a gateway to the East and a gateway to the West, that’s all that. This city is a role to play.”
Apostle of interreligious dialogue, Jean-Marc Aveline had enough to catch the eye of Pope Francis, the Argentinian Jesuit being known for his reduced positions. An invitation was also introduced to the Holy Father by the former archbishop with a view to a stay in Marseilles… Will he honor him one day?
“We are going to talk about it these days, and I do not despair that it is possiblesmiles Jean-Marc Aveline. It would be very good, so that he could deliver a message to Marseille for France, but also for the Mediterranean.”