Cardinal André Vingt-Trois : Biographical Notes
Cardinal André Vingt-Trois was born in Paris, November 7, 1942.
Education
| 1962 | Admission to the St. Sulpice Seminary of Issy-les-Moulineaux. Bachelor’s degree in Theology at the Institut Catholique of Paris. |
| 1964-65 | Military service in Germany. |
| June 28, 1969 | Ordination for the Archdiocese of Paris by Cardinal François Marty. |
| 1972 | Canonical Bachelor’s degree’s dissertation : “A tentative theological reflection on a Pastoral experiment” (directed by Fr Henri de la Valette, S.J. and Fr Maurice Vidal, P.S.S.). |
Ministries
| 1969-1974 | Assistant Pastor at St. Jeanne de Chantal’s Parish in Paris, with work in catechism and lay people’s formation. |
| 1974-1981 | Spiritual Director at the St. Sulpice Seminary of Issy-les-Moulineaux, and Professor of sacramental and moral theology. Participates in the various movements of family ministry, especially Preparation to Marriage, and the permanent formation of priests. |
| 1981-1999 | Vicar general of the Archdiocese of Paris, in charge especially of formation (the Cathedral School, the Seminary), media communications (Radio Notre Dame, the weekly Paris Notre-Dame, the Information Service), family ministry, the chaplaincy of state schools, and catechesis. |
| 1988 | Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Paris and ordained October 14. |
| 1999 | Appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Tours April 21, and installed May 16. |
| 2005 | Appointed to succeed Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger as Archbishop of Paris and Ordinary of Oriental Rite Catholics in France, and installed March 5. |
| 2007 | Created a Cardinal November 24, with the see of St. Louis of the French in Rome. |
| 2007-2013 | President of the French Bishops’ Conference. |
Cardinal Vingt-Trois is a member of the Congregation for Bishops ; of the Presidency Committee of the Pontifical Council for the Family and of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. In 2010, he was appointed to the Congregation for the Clergy and in 2012 to the Congregation of the Oriental Churches.
For the French Bishops’ Conference, he was a member of the Episcopal Committee for the Charismatic Renewal from 1988 to 1996, a member of the Permanent Committee for Information and Communications from 1988 to 1997, and a member of the Permanent Committee for Economic Affairs from 1997 to 1999. He also was President of the French Bishops’ Conference’s Committee for the Family from 1998 to 2005.
Publications
| 2000 | Une année de bienfaits (A Year of Blessings), CLD, Tours. |
| 2000 | Connaître la Foi catholique (To Know the Catholic Faith), Le Sénevé/Cerp, Paris. |
| 2001 | Catéchèses pour l’année jubilaire (Catecheses for the Jubilee Year), CLD, Tours. |
| 2003 | La Famille, 15 questions à l’Église (The Family : 15 Questions to the Church), Plon/Mame, Paris. |
| 2007 | Croire, espérer, aimer (To Believe, to Hope, to Love), Presses de la Renaissance, Paris. |
| 2007 | Les Signes que Dieu nous donne (The Signs that God Sends Us), Parole et Silence, Paris. |
| 2008 | La Liberté dans la foi (Freedom in Faith), Éditions de l’Aube-France Culture, Paris. |
| 2009 | Évêques, prêtres et diacres (Bishops, Priests and Deacons), Médiaspaul, Paris. |
| 2010 | Une mission de liberté (A Mission for Liberty), Denoël, Paris. |
| 2010 | Prier. Pourquoi ? Comment ? (Prayer. Why ? How ?), Pocket, Paris. |
| 2011 | La Famille : un bonheur à construire (Family Life : Building Happiness), Parole et Silence, Paris. |
| 2012 | Quelle société voulons-nous ? (What kind of a society do we want ?), Pocket, Paris. |
| 2015 | Dieu ouvre des Chemins (God Opens New Paths), Salvator, Paris. |
| 2016 | Découvrir Jésus en lisant saint Marc (Discovering Jesus in Mark’s Gospel), Salvator, Paris |
Distinctions
– Officer of the Legion of Honor
– Officer of the National Order of Merit
– Grand Officer of the National Order of Benin
– Grand Cross Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher
