58 French dioceses have no ordinations this year

Traditionalist priests now account for 20 per cent of ordinations in France. The number of new ordinations in France has fallen this year, from 133 in 2017 to 114. According to figures from La Croix, 82 of these new priests are diocesan, while the rest are members of various orders and societies of apostolic life. Paris and Bordeaux are the dioceses with most ordinations – six each – however, this still marks a considerable decline for Paris, which had 10 in 2017 and 11 in 2016. Lyon, Versailles and Fréjus-Toulon follow with five each, then Evry with four. However, a total of 58 dioceses had no ordinations at all. In contrast, the “traditionalist” communities, where priests primarily celebrate Mass in the Old Rite, are continuing to grow. La Croix calculates that 20%  of new priests this year come from communities classed as “traditional” or “classical.”