“The Cathedral of Nantes is a strong element of the identity of the Nantes” Mgr Laurent Pierceou
On February 18, 2020 were you already bishop of Nantes when you learned the news of the cathedral fire?
My appointment was not yet official. It was the nonce that taught me the news of the fire, when I was still a bishop of Moulins and I started my move …
Do you remember what you felt?
It was a big shock! Suddenly, I went to the real: my appointment was embodied. I arrived in a very shaken diocese, especially since the fire was criminal. After a few discussions, obviousness was obvious: my enthronement ceremony was to take place before the injured cathedral, on the forecourt. It was ultimately a strong sign of consolation for our parishioners. A sign that the Lord calls us well at the crossroads, on the margins. This event set the tone for my episcopate.
You took advantage of the restoration to review the liturgical route. What have you changed?
We wondered what we could bring to visitors. How to allow them a possible encounter with holy history? With Christian faith? This is why we have redeveloped the chapels by putting forward, Breton saints, figures that join people’s daily life. It is important, in this world which is secularized so quickly, that a space like that of the cathedral still explains to whoever wants to hear it, that man is not only done to live in the moment and consume.
Do you still sometimes think of the incendiary? And what do you answer to those who tell you about it because it was the parish?
Of course, it was very painful to admit that Emmanuel, a migrant from Rwanda that the parish had welcomed, accompanied, the incendiary. And it was even more difficult to live when he murdered, the following year, a priest in the community where he had been hosted, under judicial supervision. There was anger of course, a feeling of betrayal at first. But this man who has experienced horrible things in Rwanda manifestly suffers from mental disorders. The anger fell back and we did not give up our migrant pastoral service.
Do you have a message for pilgrim readers?
I invite them to rejoice with us and come and visit the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Nantes cathedral!
