Luc Ravel


Luc Marie Daniel Ravel, C.R.S.V., is a French Roman Catholic bishop. He was the bishop of the Diocese of the French Armed Forces since his nomination by Pope Benedict XVI at 7 October 2009 and until 2017. He was consecrated at the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris at 29 November 2009. He was appointed archbishop of Strasbourg by Pope Francis on 18 February 2017.

Early life

Ravel was born in a family from Martinique and Réunion's origin, from the paternal side, and from Haute-Var, from his mother's side. He was the fourth child in a family of seven children, three girls and four boys.
He is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and studied to become an engineer at the IFP School. He went to study Philosophy and Theology at the Saint-Pierre de Champagne Abbey in Ardèche and at the University of Poitiers.

Religious career

He did his solemne profession at the Regular Canons of St. Augustine at 7 December 1985, and he was ordained a priest at 25 June 1988.
He was afterwards a prior at the Church of Saint-Charles de Porrentruy, in Jura, Switzerland, at Montbron, and at the Deanery Tardoire and Bandiat, in Charente. He rejoined afterwards the Champagne Abbey, where he was master of the novices, from 1996 to 2007, and subprior, since 2003. He started the movement Notre-Dame de l`Écoute, for single and celibate people.
He was nominated bishop of the Diocese of the French Armed Forces by Pope Benedict XVI at 7 October 2009. His consecration took place at the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris at 29 November 2009, by cardinal André Vingt-Trois. He became a member of the Doctrinal Commission of the Bishops' Conference of France in 2011.
Ravel created controversy when he called abortion a "weapon of mass destruction" and called for the return of the abortion debate in French society at the Armed Forces monthly magazine in February 2015. The French Defence Minister asked the Diocese's magazine to stop displaying the Army's logo at the cover as a way of distancing themselves from its content.
Ravel was appointed archbishop of the French city of Strasbourg, the historic capital of Alsace, on 18 February 2017.