A priest from the diocese of Versailles ended his life, a few months after denouncing abuse of power

Father François de Foucauld, aged 50, took his own life on the night of June 30 to July 1. His body was found in the forest of Rambouillet. 

The Bishop of Versailles, Luc Crepy, announced sad news in a statement published Friday July 1st. Father François de Foucauld, who had been a priest in the diocese of Versailles for 18 years, committed suicide on the night of June 30 to July 1.

The body of the 50-year-old monk was found in the forest of Rambouillet.

Francois de Foucauld, 50, incardinated priest in the diocese of Versailles (France), has just committed suicide.
I pray for him, on his way to eternity.
"... But you have seen: you look at evil and suffering,
you take them in your hand; ..."
psalm 9, 14#pray pic.twitter.com/QZWLnpCsIt

— Dunand Jean-Michel+ (@dunand_michel) July 2th, 2022

Father François de Foucauld officiated in the diocese of Versailles with several parishes, however the press release specifies that since September 2021 he had no mission, "following difficulties in the exercise of his ministry".

In a column published in the daily La Croix last December entitled "The constraint to silence in the Church no longer passes", the priest had denounced the abuse of power within the Catholic Church.

Believing that he himself had been a victim of abuse of power, he showed in this forum how the word is locked up on this subject and called on the Church to "clarify and mark out the stages of the exercise of power, as one can diagnose in a professional place the gestures resulting in pain at work”.

In particular, he underlined the urgency for pastors and the faithful to enter "into a true consideration of the witnesses of the abuses of power today in the Church", in order to discern "the clear and peaceful rules of governance within the 'Church ".

"It is indeed the contradictory debate that we must inscribe in the marble of our pastoral responsibilities, whether we are bishop, priest or lay leader", he wrote in conclusion.

"We share the pain of all those who were able to know him and appreciate him in his parish ministry", writes the Bishop of Versailles, who declares to bring in prayer "Father François, his family and his friends, asking the Lord to welcome him in his mercy".

Camille Westphal Perrier