On Sunday, July 9, 2023, during the Angelus, Pope Francis announced he would hold a consistory on September 30, 2023, for the creation of twenty-one new cardinals, including our own confrere, the Most Reverend François-Xavier BUSTILLO, OFM Conv., Bishop of Ajaccio, [Corsica], France.
Friar François was born on November 23, 1968, in Pamplona, Spain. He entered the minor seminary in Baztan, Spain, and began his postulancy in Padua, Italy, where he completed his studies in philosophy and theology at Padua’s Istituto Teologico Sant’Antonio Dottore, later earning his Licentiate in Theology at the Institut Catholique in Toulouse, France, in 1997. He made his simple profession on September 12, 1987, his solemn profession on September 20, 1992, and was ordained to the priesthood on September 10, 1994.
He has held the following offices: Guardian of the Saint-Bonaventure Friary in Narbonne, France (1994-2018); Pastor of the Saint-Bonaventure Church in Narbonne (1994-2007); Provincial Custos of the Provincial Custody of St. Bonaventure in France-Belgium (2006-2018); Parish Priest in solidum of the Parish of Sainte-Croix in Narbonne and member of the episcopal council for the Diocese of Carcassonne-Narbonne (2007-2018); Episcopal Vicar for the Narbonnais-Corbières territory of the Diocese of Carcassonne-Narbonne; and the Delegate for New Spirituality Movements and Interreligious Dialogue (2012-2018). Starting in 2018, he served as the Guardian of the Saint-Maximilien Kolbe Friary in Lourdes, France. On June 13, 2021, he was ordained a bishop at the Notre-Dame de l’Assomption Cathedral in Ajaccio, [Corsica], France.
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