François-Xavier Bustillo

{{Requested move notice|1=François Bustillo|2=Talk:François-Xavier Bustillo#Requested move 6 May 2025}}

{{Infobox Christian leader

| type = Cardinal

| honorific-prefix = His Eminence

| name = François-Xavier Bustillo

| honorific-suffix = OFM Conv.

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| title = Cardinal
Bishop of Ajaccio

| image = François-Xavier Bustillo (cropped).jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Bustillo in 2021

| church = Catholic Church

| archdiocese =

| province =

| metropolis =

| diocese = Ajaccio

| see =

| elected =

| appointed = 11 May 2021

| term =

| term_start = 13 June 2021

| quashed =

| term_end =

| predecessor = Olivier de Germay

| opposed =

| successor =

| other_post = Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria Immacolata di Lourdes a Boccea (2023-)

| ordination = 10 September 1994

| ordinated_by =

| consecration = 13 June 2021

| consecrated_by = Jean-Marc Aveline

| cardinal = 30 September 2023

| created_cardinal_by = Pope Francis

| rank = Cardinal Priest

| birth_name = François-Xavier Bustillo

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1968|11|23|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Pamplona, Spain

| death_date =

| death_place =

| buried =

| nationality = Spanish, French

| religion =

| residence =

| parents =

| spouse =

| children =

| occupation =

| profession =

| previous_post =

| education =

| alma_mater = Catholic University of Toulouse

| motto = In ipso vita erat

| signature =

| signature_alt =

| coat_of_arms = File:Coat of arms of François-Xavier Bustillo (cardinal).svg

| coat_of_arms_alt =

| other =

}}

François-Xavier Bustillo OFM Conv. (born 23 November 1968) is a Spanish-born French Catholic prelate who has served as Bishop of Ajaccio since 2021. He is a member of the Conventual Franciscans and has spent his priesthood in France. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 30 September 2023.

He names himself François Bustillo on the website of his diocese{{cite web | website = Diocese of Ajaccio | access-date = 20 December 2024 |url = https://www.corse.catholique.fr/le-diocese/leveque-et-ses-collaborateurs/leveque/ | title = Le Cardinal François Bustillo | language = fr}}{{efn|He has used this shortened form of his name for all his published books.}} and is often referred to by that name on Church websites{{cite web | website = National Conference of French Bushops |url= https://eglise.catholique.fr/guide-eglise-catholique-france/personne/s-em-le-cardinal-francois-bustillo-ofm-conv/ | title = S. Ém. le cardinal François Bustillo, o.f.m. conv. | access-date = 20 December 2024}}{{cite web | url = https://www.ofmconv.net/en/ajaccio-ordinazione-di-fra-francois-bustillo-vescovo-di-ajaccio/ | access-date = 20 December 2024 | title = Ajaccio: Ordination of Friar François Bustillo, Bishop of Ajaccio | date=16 June 2021 | website = OFMConv }} and in other media.{{cite news | language = fr | url =https://www.liberation.fr/societe/lomnipresent-eveque-dajaccio-francois-bustillo-artisan-de-la-visite-du-pape-en-corse-20241213_K4QEFMIQDNHQTEUCOFT3SX4TCA/ | title = L'«omniprésent» évêque d'Ajaccio François Bustillo, artisan de la visite du pape en Corse | date = 13 December 2024 | work = Libération |access-date = 20 December 2024|first = Bernadette |last= Sauvaget}}{{cite news | work = La Croix | language = fr | access-date = 20 December 2024 | url =https://www.la-croix.com/religion/cardinal-francois-bustillo-je-voudrais-dire-la-joie-qu-ont-les-corses-de-recevoir-le-pape-francois-20241123 | date = 23 November 2024 | title =Cardinal François Bustillo: « Je voudrais dire la joie qu'ont les Corses de recevoir le pape François » }}

Biography

Named Francisco-Javier Bustillo Rípodas at his birth on 23 November 1968 in Pamplona in Navarre, Spain, he was the eldest of four children.{{cite news | work = La Croix | access-date = 4 October 2023 | url = https://international.la-croix.com/amp/religion/a-spanish-franciscan-is-the-new-bishop-of-french-corsica/14301 | date = 13 May 2021 | title= A Spanish Franciscan is the new bishop of French Corsica | first = Christophe | last = Henning }} His father was a career soldier. He had several relatives who had religious vocations. When barely ten years old he chose to attend the seminary in Baztan, Navarre, rather than the school in his hometown.{{cite news | access-date = 18 December 2024 | language =fr | url = https://www.midilibre.fr/2011/06/04/l-enfant-de-navarre-est-devenu-pretre-mediatique,329961.php | date = 4 June 2011 | first = Christiane | last = Vincent | title = L'enfant de Navarre est devenu prêtre médiatique | work = Midi Libre}} At age 17 he joined the Order of Conventual Franciscans in Padua, Italy, where he completed his work in philosophy and theology at the Istituto Teologico Sant'Antonio Dottore. He earned a licentiate in theology at the Catholic University of Toulouse in 1997. He professed his vows as a Franciscan on 20 September 1992 and was ordained a priest on 10 September 1994. He later said he took his vows and was ordained in Spain for his family's sake: "Otherwise they would have killed me."

In 1994 he was one of the Franciscans who reestablished the Convent of Saint Bonaventure in Narbonne, France, which was founded in 1260 and abandoned in 1934. Their mission was to evangelize a region that had been de-Christianized. From 2006 to 2018 he was Provincial Custos of the Conventual Franciscans for France and Belgium, and from 2005 to 2018 carried out his ministry in the diocese of Carcassonne-Narbonne, serving as a parish priest, as a member of the diocesan council from 2007 to 2018, as episcopal vicar for a region of the diocese, and as diocesan delegate for new spirituality movements and for interreligious dialogue from 2012 to 2018. From 2018 to 2021 he was appointed guardian of the convent of Saint-Maximilien-Kolbe in Lourdes, France. In October 2019, he was named episcopal delegate for the protection of minors and the vulnerable for the Diocese of Tarbes-et-Lourdes.{{cite news | title = Le diocèse lance une charte pour protéger les mineurs |first=Andy |last=Barréjot| language = fr | access-date = 18 December 2024 | url = https://www.nrpyrenees.fr/2019/10/17/le-diocese-lance-une-charte-pour-proteger-les-mineurs,8485735.php | date = 17 October 2019 | work = La Nouvelle République des Pyrénées }} He has said he enjoyed assignments that kept him on the move and preferred the challenge presented by France rather than working in Italy or Spain which would have been "too easy".

He became a naturalized French citizen on 31 October 2006.{{Cite news |date=10 July 2023 |title=Qui est Mgr François-Xavier Bustillo, nouveau cardinal français? |url=https://www.famillechretienne.fr/40924/article/qui-est-mgr-francois-xavier-bustillo-nouveau-cardinal-francais |access-date=5 August 2023 |work =Famille Chrétienne |language=fr}}{{cite news | access-date = 20 December 2024 | url = https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/corse/corse-du-sud/ajaccio/monseigneur-francois-xavier-bustillo-nouvel-eveque-de-corse-2086834.html | first=Sébastien | last = Bonifay | language = fr | title = Monseigneur François-Xavier Bustillo nouvel évêque de Corse | date = 11 May 2021 | work = FranceInfo }}{{cite news | access-date = 19 December 2024 | url = https://www.corsica.news/2021/05/13/mgr-francois-xavier-bustillo-nomme-eveque-de-corse/ | work = Corsica News | date = 13 May 2021 | language = fr | title = Mgr François-Xavier Bustillo nommé Evêque de Corse | first = Pierre | last=Poggioli}}

On 11 May 2021, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Ajaccio.{{cite web| language = it | date = 11 May 2021 | url= https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2021/05/11/0289/00638.html |title= Rinunce e nomine, 11.05.2021 |publisher= Holy See Press Office |accessdate=17 May 2021 }} He told his new Corsican audience that he would have to learn how to detach himself from the Franciscan family that had formed him and discover a new life. He said Corsica like his native Navarre was a country with "strong, deep cultural roots." and added: "I do not come with a program and projects.... I come with ideas, desires, and a will to build a solid ecclesiastical life." He received his episcopal consecration on 13 June in the cathedral in Ajaccio from Jean-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseilles.{{cite news | access-date = 6 June 2022 | url = https://www.corsenetinfos.corsica/EN-IMAGES-Monseigneur-Francois-Xavier-Bustillo-a-ete-ordonne-eveque-du-diocese-d-Ajaccio-pour-la-Corse_a58232.amp.html | date = 13 June 2021 | title = Monseigneur François-Xavier Bustillo a été ordonné évêque du diocèse d'Ajaccio pour la Corse | language = fr | work = Corse Net Infos }}

In February 2022, after Paris-Match reported that Bustillo was one of the leading candidates for the position of Archbishop of Paris, he said he had not been contacted and that it was not Church practice to move a bishop so soon. It said it would be "unfair": "Paris needs a man of experience. What I really want is to be here, with you and for you."{{cite news | access-date = 6 June 2022 | language = fr | url = https://www.corsematin.com/articles/archeveque-de-paris-le-nom-de-mgr-bustillo-circule-au-vatican-123784 | work = Corse Matin | title = Archevêque de Paris : le nom de Mgr Bustillo circule au Vatican? | date = 25 February 2022 | first = Ghjilormu | last = Padovani }}

In April 2022, Pope Francis gave an Italian-language version of Bustillo's book Witnesses, Not Officials{{efn|It was originally published in French as La Vocation du prêtre face aux crises. La fidélité créatrice. The Italian translation was called Testimoni, non funzionari. Il sacerdote dentro il cambiamento d'epoca.}} to each of the priests attending the Chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Holy Thursday.{{cite news | access-date = 6 June 2022 | publisher = Vatican News | date = 12 April 2022 | title = Pope Francis gives a book to priests present at Chrism Mass | url = https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-04/pope-francis-gives-a-book-to-priests-present-at-chrism-mass.html }}{{cite book | title = Testimoni, non funzionari. Il sacerdote dentro il cambiamento d'epoca | language = it | date = 2022 | publisher = Libreria Editrice Vaticana | last = Bustillo | first = François-Xavier }}

On 9 July 2023, Pope Francis announced he planned to make him a cardinal at a consistory scheduled for 30 September.{{cite press release | access-date = 9 July 2023| publisher = Holy See Press Office | language = it | title = Le parole del Papa alla recita dell'Angelus, 09.07.2023 | url = https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/07/09/0502/01116.html }} The first phone call to congratulate him came from Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, a Corsican who spent his entire career in Rome.{{cite news | url =https://www.liberation.fr/portraits/francois-xavier-bustillo-la-crosse-sautonomise-20231119_I2WNP75ETRGM7OE3KRSPV7ZNME/ | language = fr | work = Libération | access-date = 17 December 2024 | date = 19 November 2023 | title = François-Xavier Bustillo, la crosse s'autonomise | first = Bernadette | last = Sauvaget }} Bustillo is the first bishop of his diocese to be named a cardinal.{{cite news | access-date = 10 July 2023 | date = 9 July 2023 | language = fr | url = https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/societe/l-eveque-de-corse-mgr-bustillo-parmi-les-21-nouveaux-cardinaux-crees-par-le-pape-francois-5752800 | title = L'Evêque de Corse Mgr Bustillo parmi les 21 nouveaux Cardinaux créés par le Pape François | publisher = France Bleu | first1 = Roland | last1 = Frias | first2= Christophe | last2= Giudicelli }}{{efn|In the 17th century, Giovanni Stefano Donghi was already a cardinal when named bishop of Ajaccio.}} At that consistory he was made cardinal priest of Santa Maria Immacolata di Lourdes a Boccea.{{cite press release | access-date = 1 October 2023 | date = 30 September 2023 | url = https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2023/09/30/230930b.html | title = Assignation of Titles and Deaconries to the new Cardinals, 30.09.2023 | publisher = Holy See Press Office}} On 4 October 2023 he was named a member of the Dicastery for the Clergy.{{cite press release | access-date = 18 December 2024 | date =4 October 2023 | publisher = Holy See Press Office | url =https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2023/10/04/231004b.html | title = Resignations and Appointments, 04.10.2023 }}

In September 2023, the French Catholic magazine Golias described the charismatic activities and "misguided mysticism" of Franciscan Brother Daniel-Marie Thévenet as "bordering on charlatanism". It questioned Bustillo's association with Thévenet, both rooted in the Conventual Franciscan community of Cholet and Brussels.{{Cite news |work =Golias |date=15 September 2023 |title=Les étranges amis du néo-cardinal Bustillo |url=https://www.golias-editions.fr/2023/09/15/les-etranges-amis-du-neo-cardinal-bustillo/ |access-date=17 December 2024 | publisher =Éditions Golias |first =Christian | last = Terras|language=fr-FR}} Bustillo, who had once been Thevenet's superior, said there were no complaints against him then. Now he had no authority over him and could only urge Thevenet to be prudent.{{cite news |language=fr|first=Bernadette|last=Sauvaget|title=François-Xavier Bustillo, la crosse s'autonomise| work=Libération|date=19 November 2023 | url=https://www.liberation.fr/portraits/francois-xavier-bustillo-la-crosse-sautonomise-20231119_I2WNP75ETRGM7OE3KRSPV7ZNME/| access-date = 17 December 2024}}{{efn|Golias deemed Bustillo's response far short of what Thévenet's behavior deserved.{{cite news|url = https://www.golias-editions.fr/2023/11/29/de-qui-se-moque-le-cardinal-bustillo/ | access-date = 18 December 2024 | title = De qui se moque le cardinal Bustillo? | date = 29 November 2023}}}}

On 29 August 2024, Bustillo was made a knight (chevalier) of the French Legion of Honor.{{cite web | url = https://www.ofmconv.net/en/ajaccio-nuovo-cavaliere-della-legione-donore/ | website = OFMConv | title = Ajaccio: New Knight in the Legion of Honor | date = 2 September 2024 | access-date = 20 December 2024 }}

Bustillo spent the day at Pope Francis' side when he visited Ajaccio on 15 December 2024 to address a symposium on Popular Religiosity in the Mediterranean.{{cite news | access-date = 18 December 2024 | work = La Croix International | url = https://international.la-croix.com/religion/in-ajaccio-pope-francis-advocates-corsican-style-secularism | title = In Ajaccio, Pope Francis advocates 'Corsican-style' secularism | first = Mikael | last = Corre | date = 16 December 2024 }} Bustillo was described as "media-savvy" for his organization of the visit{{cite news |url=https://www.france24.com/en/france/20241215-pope-francis-calls-for-unity-and-dynamic-secularism-in-first-visit-to-corsica | access-date = 18 December 2024 | publisher = France 24 | date = 15 December 2024| title= Pope Francis calls for unity and 'dynamic' secularism in first visit to Corsica}} and Le Monde noted how he curated the image of Corsica he wanted the world to see–"good-natured and sunny" with "babies brandished to be blessed by the pope", "flocks of the faithful who knew the words to the songs", and "pilgrims who came with picnics in their backpacks"–in contrast to the celebrities who gathered in rainy Paris a week earlier to celebrate the reopening of Notre Dame.{{cite news | work = Le Monde |url = https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/12/16/pope-francis-in-corsica-a-day-of-celebration-free-of-controversies_6736123_7.html | access-date = 18 December 2024 | title = Pope Francis in Corsica: A day of celebration free of controversy| date =16 December 2024 | first = Christophe | last = Ayad}}

Publications

La fraternità pasquale. Raccontare la vita comunitaria, in Memoria e profezia, EMP, 2013, {{ISBN|978-8825033953}}
La vocation du prêtre face aux crises: La fidélité créatrice, Bruyères-le-Châtel, Éditions Nouvelle Cité, 2021, {{ISBN|978-2-37582-242-5}}
Testimoni, non funzionari. Il sacerdote dentro il cambiamento d'epoca, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2022 {{ISBN|978-8826607078}}
Co-authored with Cardinal Edgar Peña Parra, with a preface by Pope Francis, Le coeur ne se divise pas, Fayard, 2023, {{ISBN|978-2213726014}}

Notes

References

External links

[https://www.corse.catholique.fr/le-diocese/leveque-et-ses-collaborateurs/leveque/ Biography on the website of the Diocese of Ajaccio]
[https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_bustillo_fx.html Biography on the website of the Holy See]