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December 15, 2021
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December 15, 2021

 French Guiana to get new bishop

Pope Francis has appointed Fr Alain Ransay of Martinique to be the new Bishop of the diocese of Cayenne, French Guiana. A date for the episcopal ordination is to be announced.

A December 10 release from the Antilles Episcopal Conference said that Bishop-elect Ransay was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Saint-Pierre and Fort-de-France on December 27, 1992, in Sainte-Marie by then Archbishop Maurice Marie-Sainte. Bishop-elect Ransay is fluent in French, Creole, English, and Spanish.

He has held numerous offices including:

1992: Parish Vicar in Lamentin

1995–1997: Parish Priest of DeBriant

1997–1998: Parish Priest of Sainte-Marie parish

1998–2000: Pastor of the parish of Lamentin

2000–2005: Chancellor, Diocesan Treasurer, hospital Chaplain, Moderator of the parish team of Robert, Martinique (2008)

2005–2008: Spiritual Director and Teacher at the Seminary of Lyon, France, Teachers’ Chaplain (Catholic Action) (2008)

2008–2014: Pastor of Saint-Christophe parish

2014–2016: Pastor of the parish of Marin and Sainte-Anne, teacher of moral theology at the Diocesan Institute of Religious Studies Gaston Jean-Michel (2016), Teacher at St John Paul II Seminary (2016), Pastor of Notre Dame de Bellevue parish

2016–2018: Diocesan Direct or of Catholic Education, Vice-president of the European Catholic Institute of the Americas (2018)

2017: Episcopal Delegate for the Pastoral of Education

2020: Secretary of the Archdiocesan Presbyteral Council

 

The appointment comes nine months after the Pope, through the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, appointed Bishop Michel Marie Jacques Dubost CIM, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Evry-Corbeil-Essonnes (France), Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Cayenne on April 7.

In 2020, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Emmanuel Lafont who reached the canonical limit of 75 years.