François Bacqué

François Robert Bacqué (born 2 September 1936) is a French prelate of the Catholic Church who spent his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See, fulfilling several assignments as an apostolic nuncio.

Archbishop Bacqué, 2018

Biography

François Robert Bacqué was born in Bordeaux, France, on 2 September 1936 and ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Bordeaux on 1 October 1966.[1] He completed a year of pastoral work at the parish of Notre-Dame d'Arcachon.[2]

He studied in Rome, Paris, and Toulouse, earning degrees in canon law and political science,[1] and completed the course of studies at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in 1967[3] and entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1969. His early assignments included stints in the papal representatives' offices in China (1967–72), the Netherlands (1972–75), and Chile (1975–78); in Rome at the Secretariat of State and as a members of the Council for Public Affairs of the Church (1978–83); and then at the apostolic nunciatures in Portugal (1981–85) and Scandinavia (1985–88).[1][2] In Chile he served under the nuncio Angelo Sodano, later Secretary of State, during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Bacqué has defended Sodano's record there, noting that the nunciature sheltered about thirty political refugees.[4]

Pope John Paul II appointed him titular archbishop of Gradisca and Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Sri Lanka on 17 June 1988.[1] He received his episcopal consecration on 3 September 1988[2] from Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, the Secretary of State.

Pope John Paul named him Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic on 7 June 1994[5] and on 27 February 2001 Apostolic Nuncio to the Netherlands.[1]

He retired upon the appointment of his successor in the Netherlands, André Dupuy, on 15 December 2011.[6][7]

References
  1. "Rinunce e Nomine, 27.02.2001" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 27 February 2001. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  2. "S. Exc. Mgr François Bacqué". Église Catholique de France (in French). Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  3. "Pontificia Accademia Ecclesiastica" (in Italian). Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  4. Martel, Frederic (2019). In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy. Bloomsbury Publishers. pp. 214–6.
  5. Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). LXXXVI. 1994. p. 614. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  6. "Retraite pour Mgr François Bacqué, ancien nonce apostolique". La Croix (in French). 16 December 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  7. "Rinunce e Nomine, 15.12.2011" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2019.


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