The French episcopate has made two innovations in its corporate government: the presence of a second vice-chairman and new rules for the representation of bishops within its permanent Council. The new provisions will also take account of the territorial composition of the dioceses, and also the seniority of bishops. The French bishops took these decisions at their plenary assembly that ended on 13 May. At the assembly they reflected on and voted new provisions on collegiality, in other words as a statement put out by the Episcopal Conference explains “the work in common of the bishops at the service of the Catholic Church in France”. The permanent Council of the Episcopal Conference, that meets ten times each year from September to June, is currently composed of a chairman, a vice-chairman, the archbishop of Paris, member by right, and 9 members elected by the assembly on the basis of territorial representation. According to the new provisions, the permanent Council will now have a second vice-chairman. For the selection of the other members the procedure is now as follows: 3 bishops will be elected according to a demographic criterion (one bishop for the 46 dioceses with less than 500,000 inhabitants, one for the 36 dioceses with a population of between 500,000 and one million, and one for the 23 dioceses with over one million inhabitants). Three other bishops will be elected according to a criterion of “seniority in the episcopate” (one representative for bishops nominated prior to 1990; one for bishops nominated between 1990 and 1997 and one for those nominated after 1998). The elections of the new permanent Council according to the new regulations will take place at the next plenary assembly due to be held in Lourdes from 4 to 9 November.
