Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon Orders Seminarians to "Never" Celebrate Mass in the Roman Rite
In November 2023, Pope Francis transferred Monsignor François Touvet from Châlons-en-Champagne, a dried-up diocese in northern France, to Fréjus-Toulon, which was then a vibrant and fertile diocese.
Monsignor Touvet promised not to act against the diocesan bishop, Dominique Rey. However, Touvet often does the opposite of what he says. If he is caught, he denies it and starts again.
Many testify to his desire to remain ambiguous and to keep the faithful, especially the priests, in the dark.
In autumn 2024, Touvet forced a future deacon to sign a document stating that once ordained as a priest, he would only preside over the Novus Ordo Eucharist; administer the sacraments according to the Novus Ordo; use the Novus Ordo breviary; not include elements of the Holy Mass in the Eucharist, such as signs of the cross, genuflections or silent recitation of the canon; and deliver Communion in the hand.
The seminarian signed and was ordained.
Touvet then tried the same with nine other future deacons, but most of them reacted negatively, denouncing an abuse of power. The bishop had brought the text that the future deacons were supposed to sign. In the end, he left with the copies, saying that the subject needed to be reworked.
At the beginning of the school year, Monsignor Touvet sent instructions to the newly appointed parish priests of the diocese. He instructed them not to celebrate Mass facing the Lord, not to use the Offertory prayers of Holy Mass and not to use the Roman Canon exclusively.
In May 2025, the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon published the names of the ten seminarians who were due to be ordained on 29 June. PaixLiturgique.fr received information that these seminarians had been ordered never to celebrate Mass in the Roman rite, either in Fréjus-Toulon or elsewhere.
This order was given verbally a few weeks before the ordinations were decided upon.
Six deacons of the Missionaries of Mercy are still waiting to be ordained in the Roman rite. They were ordained as deacons in a Roman Mass with a Novus Ordo ordination last year.
Picture: Press photo, FrejusToulon.fr, #newsRhkoxosgnc